Today is Friday. I like Fridays. The week is over. I will be making sawdust in the wood shop. The grandkids are coming over. Tonight is movie night. We are reprising ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ on the big screen with the digital projector. Tomorrow I cook pancakes for everyone. Grandson J wants strawberry jam, not syrup on his. Later, I birthday shop with daughter M and will have lunch at Cafe Trang. I like their new Asian fusion menu, enjoying sushi before the main course of flat noodles, scallions, ginger and tofu arrives.
Lord -- help he understand how I can do this when there is such evil in the world.
Given the trauma, blood loss, and possibility of infection I doubt this fellow survived. Do you suppose he had grandkids? What were his plans for the weekend?
The caption from the Chicago Sun Times about this photo reads: “Suicide bombing in Pakistan_An injured man is carried away from the site of a suicide bombing Thursday that killed at least 21 people in Pakistan. Islamic militants were blamed in the attack.” (AP photo by Mohammad Iqbal / October 25, 2007)
7 comments:
I often think about similar things. Sometimes it is hard for me to accept the principle of agency. Especially with people I come in contact with. I love that we have freedom to choose, but it also comes with a lot of pain and suffering.
Does this principle of agency suggest, to some degree, it is out of our hands and beyond our control? A very high price indeed for this, but is there not something more any of us could do? Are we powerless to make any change to the positive?
The following paper, entitled "The Problem of Painlessness" might be especially interesting to you as you struggle with the problem of pain. Sometimes I think there is more to this struggle than "doing" something to help stop pain. Not that there's anything wrong with working to alleviate suffering, of course, but the acknowledgment that one simply cannot alleviate all, or even much, of the suffering that occurs in the world, comes feelings of powerlessness and frustration. An existential problem, really. What meaning can we then make of the reality that great suffering occurs in the world? That we ourselves suffer? That our control over this reality is limited?
http://hum.utah.edu/hgc/papers/seegert.pdf
Really interesting and engaging paper by a friendly acquaintence. I think you'll enjoy it.
You are showing love to your family, creating a "pocket of love in a sea of hate." The only way to fight hate is with love. You can't control others, but you can influence. You can't force, but you can lead. You can't deny agency, but you can demonstrate it's proper use. And above all, you can love.
I think we can exert some influence for the better upon our environment. Maybe it's a difference between complacency and contentment. When we can help to make things better for other people or for society, we definitely should--in fact, I believe we are responsible to do it. On the other hand, we also need to be content when we have reached our limit or are facing something we can do nothing about.
"Lord -- help me understand how I can do this when there is such evil in the world."
i can relate to this. i think about it at least once a week, if not more often. it doesn't seem fair, does it?
i've not eaten at cafe trang in YEARS.
my daughter eats syrup not just on pancakes and waffles, but on eggs and bacon, too. she's obsessed.
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