Hope...floats

(cracks knuckles) Okay...figured it was time for another post but I confess I have NO idea what to write today. Well, more specifically, I have no idea HOW to write today...

I've been thinking for the last week or so about the earthquake in Japan and the resulting Tsunami...and the continuing issue of the radiation leaks at the Nuclear plants.  My reaction has been complicated.  A sort of crashing depression and overwhelming fear. It seems like a diminished version of what I felt 10 years ago when the twin towers fell in New York.  And, that reminds me, I can't believe it's been 10 years already.  We have an entire generation now who does not remember what it was like before the twin towers fell or even what the actual event was like.  3 of my 4 nieces and nephews were born after 9-11.

There's this whole unformed, amorphous set of thoughts in my mind regarding all this.  I've spent a full week trying to organize them into some semblance of a blog post, but I am not having any luck with it.  Here's the gist of what I'm thinking:

News coverage of worldwide events now mean that things that happen on the other side of world now effect all people more than they used to effect us.
There is a definite theme in how we react to worldwide catastrophes.
There is a definite similarity in how I myself (and, I've noticed, others) feel about 9-11 and subsequent disasters.
The first reaction to world disasters is fear.
We're as prone to fearing these are signs that the world is coming to an end as our ancestors were.
Is the world coming to an end?
Is our world about to make a major change- not the end of the world, but perhaps the end of the world as we know it?
Is it appropriate to feel this level of sadness for people I have never seen, don't know, and probably never will know?
Should I be doing something about this (and, more importantly, is there really anything I CAN do to help)?
Should we be helping people in another prosperous country when we aren't helping people in our own country?
Should, and can, I help someone in Japan when I am not sure how I'm paying my own rent month-to-month right now?

I lean on my Christian religious beliefs in times like these.  Primarily the bit in the Bible where Jesus says "there will be wars and rumors of wars":

The Bible, Matthew 24: 6-7 : "And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places."

There are a lot of people who forget the part about "the end is not yet."  It's easy to see, though, why people feel that way in times of great distress. It feels like the world is falling apart. Upheaval.  Revolution.  Catastrophe. Change is hard; it's wrenching, even.  Often, it's in ways where we have no control - we lose our jobs or we get hit by Tsunamis.  And, yes, I see the similarities and CAN compare them.  Both are major events in life.  Both change our world overnight.  Both change how we see ourselves.  Both are painful.  Both test us.  And, maybe, both can offer opportunities to take new directions - perhaps opportunities we'd never have had without them.

So, I guess that's it.  For a week I've debated and sorted out the various thoughts regarding these events have come up with one thing: Hope. 

“In all things it is better to hope than to despair” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.” Unknown

 (btw, the Title of this post is in honor of my husband, Doug...thanks Sweetie!)