From Sr. Pat.
“I have been a long time Red Cross Disaster Mental Health volunteer and have seen things I’ve never expected to see . I have been in places I’d never had chosen to go, and have met people I’d never have had the privilege to meet.
Although I am sorry about the losses they had experienced, for which we were trying to offer help. Our help was little compared to the losses they had sustained.
Today, I read a notice that Red Cross has to cut back significantly. I know this is so with almost everyone, almost everywhere.
It is the sinking in of the realization and the consequences that is coming home to me right now. It is the harsh sting of the realities of our world around us.
How has your life been shifted, your sense of security/safety/freedom been affected, your priorities changed?
What kinds of things have you been doing to keep the normalcy of your life?
What do you do to enhance the quality, especially if the crisis you experienced has meant cutting back on some of the things that enhanced the quality of your life?
How can we bring positive out of negative and lift one another’s arms when they are falling? “
When in some sense we are all falling with them.
We who work with people in crisis are called to be tiny lights- beacons- candles- in a morass of darkness and despair.
We can only be who we are.
There is ancient Asian proverb that speaks of an old man stretched out on the long limb of a tree that hangs over the flooded river. He reaches out to rescue a scorpion that is at the edge of the branches. The scorpion stings him. He reaches out again. The scorpion stings him. This continues for hours without change from either the scorpion or the man. A traveler stops nearby and asks the man why he is trying to rescue the scorpion that stings him.
“That scorpion will only sting you again.”
The man replied. “The scorpion is only doing what comes natural to scorpions. And I do only what comes natural to me.”
Sometimes the rescuers get stung too in the disasters.
I am reminded of the church hymn
”Oh death where is thy victory? Where is thy sting?”
And embrace my sisters and brothers from afar who stand face to face with danger and crisis everyday. Perhaps this wave of compassion will someday be felt around the world. If not, so be it. I will continue being compassion as long as I am me.
