Mikhal, this so beautifully captures the dissonance and the confusion. I find myself constantly saying things like “what is time?” to my friends, these days. Thank you for the additional resources, and thank you for sharing my poem. I’m praying and trying so hard for the indignity to stop, whether it’s the bombing, or the starvation, or the destruction of homes and hospitals. I'm so glad to have met you here, too.
Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad it resonated! And I love your poem so much. It's so hard to describe the mess in my head, but I try... All we can do is everything in our power so the war stops and keep trying to understand ourselves — and each other — I guess. It all feels really futile, but I'm trying to remember that trying and praying means something, too. Sending love!
I can't remember if I told you this in another chat already (ha! another example of losing track of things here with the chaos in my mind) but I remember reading about a guy who protested in front of the white house every day for years or months doin the Vietnam war. A reporter asked him why he was doing that, and whether he thought he could actually change the minds of the powers that be.
His answer was that he didn't think he was changing anyone's mind, but he was doing it because he had to do it to be able to live with himself.
In my tradition, you make the effort and you leave the results to God. Reminds me of a hadeeth (saying of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) that says: If you're planting a seed, and the day of Judgement starts, keep planting it.
I mean, if there was ever anything more futile than planting a seed when the world is ending... but the point is to do good even if you will never see the results. Just to keep doing good. Also reminds me of that Mary Oliver poem, DogFish, "Mostly I just want to be kind"... but I'm rambling now.
Love to you too. I think (I hope!) we're doing it right, or at least we're doing our best..
Thank you for reading! I'm so glad this is helpful in some way. Feel free to share if you think it might help others as well — I really want as many resources to get into as many eyes and ears as possible. And thank you for sharing these articles! I'll check them out and add them to my list of things to share in the next roundup. :)
Mikhal, this so beautifully captures the dissonance and the confusion. I find myself constantly saying things like “what is time?” to my friends, these days. Thank you for the additional resources, and thank you for sharing my poem. I’m praying and trying so hard for the indignity to stop, whether it’s the bombing, or the starvation, or the destruction of homes and hospitals. I'm so glad to have met you here, too.
Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad it resonated! And I love your poem so much. It's so hard to describe the mess in my head, but I try... All we can do is everything in our power so the war stops and keep trying to understand ourselves — and each other — I guess. It all feels really futile, but I'm trying to remember that trying and praying means something, too. Sending love!
I can't remember if I told you this in another chat already (ha! another example of losing track of things here with the chaos in my mind) but I remember reading about a guy who protested in front of the white house every day for years or months doin the Vietnam war. A reporter asked him why he was doing that, and whether he thought he could actually change the minds of the powers that be.
His answer was that he didn't think he was changing anyone's mind, but he was doing it because he had to do it to be able to live with himself.
In my tradition, you make the effort and you leave the results to God. Reminds me of a hadeeth (saying of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) that says: If you're planting a seed, and the day of Judgement starts, keep planting it.
I mean, if there was ever anything more futile than planting a seed when the world is ending... but the point is to do good even if you will never see the results. Just to keep doing good. Also reminds me of that Mary Oliver poem, DogFish, "Mostly I just want to be kind"... but I'm rambling now.
Love to you too. I think (I hope!) we're doing it right, or at least we're doing our best..
Thank you for reading! I'm so glad this is helpful in some way. Feel free to share if you think it might help others as well — I really want as many resources to get into as many eyes and ears as possible. And thank you for sharing these articles! I'll check them out and add them to my list of things to share in the next roundup. :)