"Old woman, no one is listening to you"

I think anyone with half a conscience would admit that, in our day and age, we've got a lot of problems. Disease, war, poverty, genocide, famine, political corruption...people have been blogging about these things for centuries (really, what is the difference if it's written on a cave wall, or typed into Internet Explorer?). How do you stay afloat amidst all the suffering? Or is it even in our best interest to stay afloat? Wouldn't it be easier to just ignore the suffering, chalk it up to human nature or God's will, and not let the pain seep too close to us?

That must be the direction so many find certainty in taking. How else could they ignore 2,000 deaths in Iraq, or hundreds of thousands of deaths in Sudan? How else could they look at starving bodies in Niger, and not break down, even just a little?

How they know for certain that ignorance is bliss, I'll never know. Philosopher Bertrand Russell said, "The central problem of our age is how to act decisively in the absence of certainty." I think he's right. Lately the only thing I'm certain of is that my life, like I imagine so many others, lacks a good degree of certainty. Certainty about how to save the world, about whether saving the world is even possible; certainty about whether there's a higher power, and about what that higher power expects of us. And more.

So I search for answers as humbly as I can, because even though I've got two college degrees, it doesn't mean I know more about the meaning of life than the six-year old across the street. In fact, it probably means I know less.

There's that saying about inaction in the face of suffering that gives me pause today. "It is possible to do nothing, but it is not possible to justify doing nothing."

I like that statement - it has a sense of certainty to it. If you can't justify doing nothing, it must mean that you have to do something, even if it feels futile...perhaps even if it is futile. But why?

A Sufi story gives the answer...

Once upon a time, the story goes, a seeker ran through the streets crying, "Power, greed and corruption! Power, greed and corruption!" For a while people stopped to listen. Then, gradually, they all went back to the routines of the day. But the woman never stopped running, never stopped crying out, "Power, greed and corruption! Power, greed and corruption!"

One day a small child stepped out in front of her. "Old woman," the child said, "no one is listening to you."

"I know that," the old woman said.

"Then if you know you're not changing anyone, why do you shout?" the child asked.

"Oh, my child," she answered. "I do not shout in order to change them. I shout so that they cannot change me."

Maybe that's the reason to let a little pain from this world enter our lives. If we break down a little in the face of suffering and violence, we draw closer to those that need us next to them. If we fail to do this, we become part of the masses that all go "back to the routines of the day."

And there's one thing I can be certain of - that fulfillment isn't found in a life that's routine.

Wow, enough grandstanding from me today. Enjoy the weekend, everyone. Peace.