Archive for the ‘Looking for Meaning’ Category

Okay, where have I been? European vacation. Family reunion. Cross-country rallies for my key client. And, more. If you’ve wondered why I don’t “tweet,” I did for a while and didn’t catch the knack of it all. Facebook is on my horizon. I hope you’ll visit our company’s new online store at www.AstonishU.com. In the meantime, the end of summer is now on the horizon. Those in the southern US will be thankful to see it go. It’s been an interesting year. My thoughts often turn to the victims of floods in Pakistan, brush fires and smog in Russia, and mud slides in China. I heard a news reporter commenting on the oil spill in the Gulf. She puzzled over “where all the oil has gone.” We live in an age of science and an age of faith as well. Perhaps the oil dissolved or drifted out to sea. Perhaps it dissipated with some miraculous assistance. Perhaps our nation has been blessed. Let us pray that Pakistan, Russia, and China will be blessed as well.

Are there times when we watch the news of calamities and feel powerless? Yes. Should we let the feeling persist? No. Feeling powerless doesn’t mean we are. We are humbled by the forces of nature. We are bewildered by man-made accidents that occur. Our faith prompts us to pray for those who are in harm’s way. Catastrophes also teach us. These teach us to become better prepared for the similar challenges we will yet face. These help us to put our material ambitions in perspective. 

I recently saw a cartoon where a couple was watching and lamenting the news of the Gulf oil spill. They then turned off the TV and jumped in their SUV to drive two blocks to the local fast-food restaurant for dinner. It might have been a good night to take a neighborhood stroll to the nearby restaurant or to stay home and take stock of the items in their food pantry.

And what do we do about our environment? We have an unavoidable dependency on petroleum products of many kinds. Until we modify our lifestyles, we are compelled to drill. But change, we must. The Gulf oil spill will prompt new methodologies and greater precautions to protect the oceans and forests that sustain us in the most fundamental ways. With renewed commitment, we will pursue the energy alternatives that human ingenuity can unleash and re-align our priorities to make it so. We are not powerless.

Isn’t it amazing how the world perspective can change in one minute? I look on CNN.com and see that every major news story is: “Haiti.” I sit in my comfortable office contemplating Caribbean red papaya and organically-grown whole wheat toast for breakfast, while millions plead for a bottle of water as they try to rescue or bury family members and friends. I have no idea what it must be like for persons and families to lose so much in just one minute. At least the news about Mark McGuire, Sarah Palin, and Leno-Conan has subsided. Many of us will go forward with new thankfulness for our blessings and do what we can do to help our brothers and sisters who live just off the coast of our blessed land.

To be speechless is to be humbled by something so tragic that very few words are appropriate. I can only sit in silence and then hang my head as I read the news from Haiti. I have no idea what it must be like for so many to lose so much. We may each ask, “What can I do to help?”