In every situation life presents, there are always multiple perspectives to consider. These recent events in our world are on a huge scale, so much suffering. Thank you to this perspective from Elie Fares which I am reblogging here.
In every encounter we have in life, large or small – be it family, friend, or foe – all perspectives matter…in every way, especially now. We are one big dysfunctional family in an ever-shrinking world. We need a major dose of group therapy if we are going all manage our coexistence.
Before taking sides, after what likely are normal & natural reactions – along side anger, fear, anxiety, hurt, pain, distrust – we must calm & begin listening, hearing, seeing. Maybe it is naive, but it is my hope that ultimately we can allow caring & compassion to inform our decisions.
Being part of a family is hard enough…7 billion brothers & sisters trying to survive on one little planet…terrifying.
When a friend told me past midnight to check the news about Paris, I had no idea that I would be looking at a map of a city I love, delineating locations undergoing terrorist attacks simultaneously. I zoomed in on that map closer; one of the locations was right to where I had stayed when I was there in 2013, down that same boulevard.
The more I read, the higher the number of fatalities went. It was horrible; it was dehumanizing; it was utterly and irrevocably hopeless: 2015 was ending the way it started – with terrorists attacks occuring in Lebanon and France almost at the same time, in the same context of demented creatures spreading hate and fear and death wherever they went.
I woke up this morning to two broken cities. My friends in Paris who only yesterday were asking what was happening in Beirut were now on the opposite side…
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The Spirited Soul 
“Begin listening, hearing, seeing ”
No, that’s not naive. It is the only way to understand each other and to survive!
Michael J
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The notion isn’t naive, but it is optimistic & hopeful. I admit I’m a bleeding heart…& my heart is bleeding. For my sake at least, I’m glad I’m a spirited soul, as are you!
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