Caution: Shallow

Sometimes I just don't know why I write.

I read the headlines. I listen to the news......


Osama bin Laden has been shot.

Tornadoes kill hundreds in the south, destroy everything for countless victims.

Tsunami in Japan. Nuclear reactors eeking radiation. Thousands dead.



And then I sit down to write about ....

My chickens?
Hamsters?
A sassy child?
A long church service?

Does it ever all just seem so pointless to you?

I close my eyes and put myself in the shoes of someone who has just lost everything. Or lost a loved one. Or I try to understand the emotions of a woman who lost her husband, or a child who lost a parent on 9/11...

I am filled with the feeling of being so small, so insignificant. So helpless to bring real aid or comfort to those in need.

Of course, we contribute to disaster relief aid. After the tsunami, B the Younger took up a collection of his siblings' charity money and brought a jug to school to collect more and he ended up getting about $150. We will add to that and send it to the Red Cross. And I know we will help with donations to the victims of the tornadoes, too. But ....

Is it ever enough?

Pocket change and prayers. That's all I got.

And my prayers can't be all that helpful the way my mind works....

Dear God, please help all the people who suffered losses during the tornadoes. Especially any mothers who have lost children. I can't imagine losing a child. I can remember it like it was yesterday when I brought my first-born home. Now he's in high school! And I love him so. But I wish he would get his head in the game with his homework or he'll never get into college at this rate. Did he turn in that last lab for his chem class? Did he finish his math homework?

I mean the tornadoes! Help the victims of the tornadoes! Rebuild lives! Find lost family members! Shelter, food, water!

And dear Lord, please help heal the hearts of the people who have lost loved ones in the attacks on 9/11.I remember I was in MOMS Club when that story was unfolding so many years ago. So awful...Hey I wonder whatever happened to Sherry from MOMS Club? The one with the kid that was always picking his nose? I'll bet he's nearly S's age by now. Wonder if he's still picking his nose....

I mean, help the victims! The survivors! Closure, peace, justice!


Dear Jesus and all the saints in heaven, please help all those poor people who are still struggling over in Japan to contain the radiation and rebuild all that was knocked out by the tsunami and the earthquake. The pictures of that wave rolling in were just horrific. It's amazing what the force of water can do. Like the bank on our pond. We keep fixing it but then the water finds its way under or around the dam we've built and erodes the bank even more. I know F is going to need to get out there with his tractor soon to try to fill in some of that area. Hope his tractor starts right up for him, sometimes it gives him trouble. It makes that weird noise like that woman at auditions on American Idol. I wonder who will be going home this week on Idol?

No, no, no! Tsunami! Reactors! Earthquake! Victims! Help!

Amen.


Maybe I'd better stick to that pocket change.....






[Images courtesy of Google Images:
http://www.movetransport.com/watertransport/water-safety-signs.html]