Headlines are constantly being made and yet how are we processing the violence we read about? It seems to me that if we could understand even just one act of violence, whether against an animal, a child, a woman, a man, or a sacred site, then we would have understood the world and age we live in. Whether the genocides and terror in Cambodia, Europe, or Rwanda, whether terror against intellectuals, an ethnic group, or indigenous peoples, whether on a small or massive scale, acts of violence are overwhelming to deal with in their aftermath, let alone during the enduring trauma. Lives were taken and then there are those who survived--those who are left to go on, make meaning, uphold a memorial.
We live in a digital age where individuals' stories can be made much more available. Amongst the noise and babble of this world, stories of grit are getting amplified with technology and social media and they rise up from the concrete, from the ashes, from the dirt. One such enabler is Humans of NY, a photoblog of street portraits and individual interviews started in 2010 by Brandon Stanton. Humans of NY recently went to Kigali, Rwanda and the stories that emerged have an effect. This post is about grappling with that effect.
People take courage when they have to... The was the bare bones struggle for survival that the 400 children and family members hiding in the ceiling of a church endured for weeks on end. There, children heard six young men being tortured to death all night outside the church by killers who were demanding to know where the other Tutsis were hiding. The young men died in silence. Yet the powerful story of their sacrifice and bravery is anything but silent--if we have the means to listen. Such stories reflect a shared humanity that we can empathize with (in particular cases) through imagination and perhaps even through our own samskaras. Survivors of abuse, cancer, impoverishment or violence have much to share with the world about human dignity--as well as the paradoxes of survivorship. And then there are the living mute, whose story may reach no one or only the few who see and understand their living conditions. Then there is the power of photography--and yet, one must be careful to never exploit the suffering of others or to assume to speak for them.
So what's the purpose of taking in stories and photos of those who suffer? Perspective. Empathy, prayer, thoughtfulness. Kindness. Seeing how we can live responsibly and seek to give in the hope that the world may be filled with more of the light that we see in those who are made strong by trials.
And as anyone who has given knows, it is more about receiving than giving. I remember being 21 years old and going to Belgium to help at refugee centers there via a missionary church. Never was it more apparent that I had nothing to give. I wanted God to "use me" and yet all I could really do was appreciate the exchange of hearts that occurred in my time spent listening and smiling with kids and people from the Philippines, Rwanda, Armenia, Bosnia, the Congo.... How loving they were, detained in a holding place. I didn't understand the severity of their lives--or how to help--but I felt love.
From that experience though, I learned that the idea of giving to others is where we can still have it wrong. Helping others has nothing to do with the self or ego; it has everything to do with complete and utter humility. Realizing you are the blind one.
Here in the US, it seems most of our ills are caused by mental and spiritual illness, borne from boredom (tamas), excessive medical prescriptions for anti-depressants (over 100 million prescribed each year--see this incredible TED talk by Helen Fisher regarding this scary fact and more broadly, how it could correlate with love), the privileging of white males (the ones who, when disappointed, unload rounds on school grounds), as well as rajasic materialism and greed, not to mention a puritanical heritage that has become deeply perverted. There is a lack of good role models--in fact on TV and in mainstream culture we have quite the opposite. And while these impoverished cultural values extend to other places, there are yet areas of the world where luxury and materialism is not an option and where the focus is more on the family and doing what one needs to do to get by. There too there are hard choices. (I would contend that there is more innocence in other areas of the world, just as there are more political and social injustices there too.)
As a parent it is easy to fear what the world will look like in the coming years. Introspection regarding the state of the world may help us at the very least in understanding the need to teach our children that there are way more important things than their little bubble, and that the best we can do with our achievements, talents and resources is to have the right perspective on things--via values of family, education and faith-- and to be prepared and help others. These are perhaps lofty notions, but they are goals that will hopefully be made real by a touch of divine grace and direction.
As I draft this post, Ray Charles is playing on the record player and my son is dancing and skipping around and grabbing my legs. May love be a light to all of our feet. What we need is more play, more dance, more community, and more hands held. Less distraction too.
Our destiny is wrapped up in the human heart.
In closing, a poem that is replete with alchemy--as is the spiritual path or process. From the personal to the macro, our today is in need of nothing short of this kind of magic:
We live in a digital age where individuals' stories can be made much more available. Amongst the noise and babble of this world, stories of grit are getting amplified with technology and social media and they rise up from the concrete, from the ashes, from the dirt. One such enabler is Humans of NY, a photoblog of street portraits and individual interviews started in 2010 by Brandon Stanton. Humans of NY recently went to Kigali, Rwanda and the stories that emerged have an effect. This post is about grappling with that effect.
People take courage when they have to... The was the bare bones struggle for survival that the 400 children and family members hiding in the ceiling of a church endured for weeks on end. There, children heard six young men being tortured to death all night outside the church by killers who were demanding to know where the other Tutsis were hiding. The young men died in silence. Yet the powerful story of their sacrifice and bravery is anything but silent--if we have the means to listen. Such stories reflect a shared humanity that we can empathize with (in particular cases) through imagination and perhaps even through our own samskaras. Survivors of abuse, cancer, impoverishment or violence have much to share with the world about human dignity--as well as the paradoxes of survivorship. And then there are the living mute, whose story may reach no one or only the few who see and understand their living conditions. Then there is the power of photography--and yet, one must be careful to never exploit the suffering of others or to assume to speak for them.
So what's the purpose of taking in stories and photos of those who suffer? Perspective. Empathy, prayer, thoughtfulness. Kindness. Seeing how we can live responsibly and seek to give in the hope that the world may be filled with more of the light that we see in those who are made strong by trials.
From that experience though, I learned that the idea of giving to others is where we can still have it wrong. Helping others has nothing to do with the self or ego; it has everything to do with complete and utter humility. Realizing you are the blind one.
 |
| New sanctuary for rare black rhinos in N Kenya. "The reality is that in the conservation world we live in crisis," says Batian Craig |
As a parent it is easy to fear what the world will look like in the coming years. Introspection regarding the state of the world may help us at the very least in understanding the need to teach our children that there are way more important things than their little bubble, and that the best we can do with our achievements, talents and resources is to have the right perspective on things--via values of family, education and faith-- and to be prepared and help others. These are perhaps lofty notions, but they are goals that will hopefully be made real by a touch of divine grace and direction.
As I draft this post, Ray Charles is playing on the record player and my son is dancing and skipping around and grabbing my legs. May love be a light to all of our feet. What we need is more play, more dance, more community, and more hands held. Less distraction too.
Our destiny is wrapped up in the human heart.
In closing, a poem that is replete with alchemy--as is the spiritual path or process. From the personal to the macro, our today is in need of nothing short of this kind of magic:
"Uncaged Love"
Free the bird of your love
from the iron cage of selfishness
and it will fly high into the open sky.
Yes, when love escapes the prison,
the needy thief becomes a generous donor,
giving precious gifts without demanding returns.
Pure, vast, jubilant,
it flies beyond the limits – even of this sky,
suddenly changing from a sparrow to an eagle.
Until it lands at the feet of the Beloved
where it is instructed in a new art:
to dive deep into the ocean of divine ecstasy.
And when the mighty bird of your love
returns from that sphere,
it is no longer brown but dazzling golden.
It loves like the sun – unconditional,
giving its nourishing rays to all
without ever asking for something in return,
and never becoming tired or exhausted.
~Sacinandana Swami
