by JH 7 Replies latest jw friends
In 1986, when space shuttle Challenger exploded in mid air, it seemed to be a greater disaster than what happened today with Columbia. Both are just as bad, but it seems that we get used to bad news. Maybe since 9/11, we got used to tragedies on a greater scale. Maybe it's because we are waiting for war in Iraq, that this event that happened today didn't feel as tragic as it should have.
Are you getting used to tragedies?
This morning when I heard the news of the Columbia's loss on the radio, I felt as if someone had kicked me in the stomach. I'll never get used to the tragic loss of even one life. This was so unexpected as they were so close to landing.
With time the pictures and the reports will pass into history. Today it is too raw.
I have always from a young age had fears of tragedies, I used to dream somethings terrible would happen and they did. I lost important people in my like by tragedies and it seems like there is always someone dieing unexpectedly. I have know personal 4 suicides of people very close to me, many deaths by auto accidents, I know 1 girlfriend of mine that is still missing, never found her body, but presumed dead.
Everyday I seem to not be shocked by things I hear and see on the news, all the terrible things that happen , especially with children. By saying that it doesnt mean I don't feel the pain of others loses, sometimes I feel so much it bothers me and I cry. I cried like a baby when Princess Diana died, and I think I know why........ it seemed just when she was getting her life together it was cut too short. It reminded me alot of my mom, the age, the sad divorce etc. and the fact that two kids would now be without their dear mother. I didnt think Princess Diana was a saint, I just felt the sadness of the whole tradedy of it all.
I get upset when I hear of things like this happening here in our home town. I get sad when I pass by the funeral home here in town and see families gathered for comfort,,,, I just know that feeling and I feel for them.
I do thou rejoice when I hear good news. For example a 17 yr old boy, broke his back in a swimming accident a few years ago. For over a year they have had many charity events to raise money for the surgery he needed , so he might have movement in his legs.
He had the surgery the other week, and for the first time in years he stood up, weak, with help, but he stood alone for a minute or two,,,,,,,,,,, which is remarkable. He said, " I didnt realize how much I have grown, I had no idea I was 6'1"........ I just cried tears of happiness for him and that statement just touched my heart. When we have children, we are so afraid something like that will happen to them and they will never be able to use their legs, or stand or maybe even have a family. This really was a great story to read, and I am glad that the local boy may be making history with his surgery and recover.
If we only read the sad news we ,,,,will become depressed, so we need to balance it with good news at times, even if we have to search for it.
I am sad for the families of the shuttle tragedy, but it is important as fellow humans to give them our prayers and our thoughts.
Lyin' Eyes, you're a compassionate, empathic person. I do so wish there were many more people on this earth like you, 'cause this world is no doubt a much better place because you, and people like you, are here.
Keep on bein' yourself, ol' gal, you're one in a million.
francois
I would hate to think that we (humanity) would ever get used to tragedies - I think the use of TV comps etc just brings it closer into our homes!
I don't get used to it. My 36year old son called me this morning, at 8:30 to tell me about the Columbia disaster. We were both terribly shocked and saddened by it. It wasn't nearly the disaster that 9/11 was, but it was devastating just the same.
I have to be honest. My first thought when I heard the Columbia burned up, was "That is not the kind of news we need right now!" Why do I say that? Well do not get the impression that the loss of human life did not affect me, but I was more thinking of the space program. I am really into following space research and the NASA program. I honestly think NASA is run with very little support and money and they can not get hardly anything done. Now, with the disaster, I am reminded of the delays the 1986 explosion caused and how many years it took to get back on track. The life of those astronauts was about exploring and looking to the future, and now in death they will be a delay of expansion into the future. We do not stop all airline travel when one plane goes down, should we really stop space travel because of this? No, but we will and I see it taking at least a year to launch another space shuttle. That would be the last thing those Astronauts would have wanted, look up into the future.
I think we are affected by tragedies in relation to how they relate to us personally. I mean, the Bali bombing was a greater tragedy than the Columbia one today in terms of loss of life and people affected locally. Or at least, that's how it appears to ME. But to a parent or spouse of those killed in that spaceshuttle, Bali would not be as tragic.
But then, even more thousands die every die due to starvation, poverty and sickness. Isn't that as great, if not greater, a tragedy?
