...taken yesterday morning on Orewa Beach...
and this picture...
...from a news site re Hurricane Harvey...
can be part of the same world.
But maybe it is no more shocking than the "normal" reality of houses like this:
(photo from an Auckland Real Estate site)
...in the very same city as houses like this:
or this:
There are no easy answers to dealing with these dichotomies. But as I reflect on my own response a few possibilities arise:
- To allow myself to feel the agony of the planet and it's displaced people. Not turning the other way because it's too hard.
- To act in the seemingly small ways I can eg:
- Vote thoughtfully in the upcoming NZ election - having researched policies around climate change and reducing poverty.
- Sign petitions.
- Give generously to those "on the ground" in national and international organisations.
- Use social media to raise awareness.
- To pray - for those who are suffering and for those who seem to be the cause of suffering.
- To recognise in my interior world the dichotomies of peace and anguish, plenty and poverty, hope and despair... If I can compassionately accept the seeming contradictions as part of my 'whole picture' I facilitate gradual change within me and, in a mysterious way, the wider world.
