Thanks for this response to my post. I'm so sorry you had that experience at the post office. Indifference to our suffering hurts.
And you've actually helped me to feel grateful for living in a caring community. Here, people would have expressed concern, and helped you pick up your mail.
And that little girl. I wonder the same things. I'm just grateful that someone reached out to her and took her hand. I hope she's safe now.
Beautiful, Mark! I am thinking about the countless dead children under the rubble in Gaza when I hear my friend talking about driving his kids to fun at summer camp. "Attention is a moral act. What we attend to and how we attend to the world says exactly who we are.
Most of us in Western modernity aint much and modernity is not worth saving. For those of us who attend well and feel sickened the best we can do is hospice modernity, carefully work in the ruins in hopes and preparation for a better civilization to come which we living now will never see." I'm quoting myself from the book I am writing.
I am a bit old now and was bought up with morals mostly from my Grandparents.
I would NEVER dream of not helping someone in a bad situation. The only thing I don't do is give money/I buy a sandwich or something and offer that.
I watched 3 young people ahead of me the other day walk past an old man struggling with shopping bags and he had a walker. I managed to help him to his home but I just couldn't pull up all his bags to his appartment. I saw him the other day, he gave me a lovely smile.
I have been down in the 'hole' myself so I know what it's like.
Thanks, Jenny. I remember being about five years old and my grandmother taking me on a shopping excursion in downtown Milwaukee and how she made it clear to me I was to open and hold the door for her and others. It was like a boot camp for manners and stuck with me. She's long gone but the lesson lives on every day. The challenge now is how to pass it on.
I did pass it on to my kids. They are good and kind.
To me it was a natural thing to do, I have too much empathy as my husband would attest too. I collect animals and young grown kids because I do know that there is 'empathy' inside each one of us.
I was dog sitting for my step sister in NY, walking the dog in leash during rush hour. A man with a bull dog intimidated my dog. So I hugged her in my arms. The pavement was uneven, I fell hard on concrete and the leash was let go out of my hands. No one helped. I was bombarded with profanity and they condemned me for letting the dog run. For one month, where I fell, the bruise was black and blue.
Thanks, Jasmine. Yeah, with many it's become very grim. I've really been working to model what I want to see. I am always polite and appreciative to the check-out folks at the grocery store or coffee shop. It's always a little surprising at how startled they are and respond in kind. I can only imagine what many of them have to put up with all day long.
Your experience at the post office made me cry, seriously. I can't believe how cold and cruel humanity has become. If you had fallen in Israel your experience would have been the same. If you had fallen in Gaza, people would be all over you trying to help you up, gather your mail, and ask if you were OK. And yet those are the people we are supposed to accept being starved and murdered, and the indifferent, wealthy, cruel ones are the ones we are supposed to empathize with. Some days I really don't know how I get out of bed. If it weren't for the cats to feed and the business to run, I don't think I could. Truly a cruel world we're living in, especially in the West.
I hear you and struggle with the same issues. I think you are exactly correct in how such an incident would be handled by those in Gaza. Where I try to focus is what I concluded the post with:
Reciprocity is essential to and an expression of a decent society. It is the most essential of our abused and dwindling natural resources. Without it we are all lost.
Practice it.
Model it.
Teach it to the children.
In a time like this and in a society such as ours, it’s truly the most radical act you can do.
Oh the little girl. My god it’s heartbreaking to see a tiny child so vulnerable like this. How could anyone treat this baby so harshly. I wish I could scoop her up and soothe her heart. Her clothes, her hair, her skin are filthy. She should be running around playing with friends and then washed and clean for bed safe with sweet dreams and a full tummy not this. She needs love and kindness. What kind of world are we living in when this little girls plight can’t stop the bombs falling. God knows what she’s seen with those beautiful eyes. I hope she has someone to care for her. It’s too much to bear.
There does seem to be an underlying angst on the street, people avoid eye contact and don’t want to engage with ‘strangers’. Where is this fear of the ‘other’ coming from?
I'm glad you're not too badly hurt from your fall. I think our lack of empathy is building as this genocide continues and worsens... We had 7 murders here this past holiday weekend--all separate incidents. Of course, drinking and fireworks probably played into these crimes, but really... Nobody knows how to talk things out anymore? We kill first, ask questions later (if at all).
Hi Mark,
Thanks for this response to my post. I'm so sorry you had that experience at the post office. Indifference to our suffering hurts.
And you've actually helped me to feel grateful for living in a caring community. Here, people would have expressed concern, and helped you pick up your mail.
And that little girl. I wonder the same things. I'm just grateful that someone reached out to her and took her hand. I hope she's safe now.
These times are just heart wrenching.
Beautiful, Mark! I am thinking about the countless dead children under the rubble in Gaza when I hear my friend talking about driving his kids to fun at summer camp. "Attention is a moral act. What we attend to and how we attend to the world says exactly who we are.
Most of us in Western modernity aint much and modernity is not worth saving. For those of us who attend well and feel sickened the best we can do is hospice modernity, carefully work in the ruins in hopes and preparation for a better civilization to come which we living now will never see." I'm quoting myself from the book I am writing.
"Attention is a moral act. What we attend to and how we attend to the world says exactly who we are." ... No kidding.
I am a bit old now and was bought up with morals mostly from my Grandparents.
I would NEVER dream of not helping someone in a bad situation. The only thing I don't do is give money/I buy a sandwich or something and offer that.
I watched 3 young people ahead of me the other day walk past an old man struggling with shopping bags and he had a walker. I managed to help him to his home but I just couldn't pull up all his bags to his appartment. I saw him the other day, he gave me a lovely smile.
I have been down in the 'hole' myself so I know what it's like.
Everyone please be thoughtful.
Good of you to write this Mark.
Thanks, Jenny. I remember being about five years old and my grandmother taking me on a shopping excursion in downtown Milwaukee and how she made it clear to me I was to open and hold the door for her and others. It was like a boot camp for manners and stuck with me. She's long gone but the lesson lives on every day. The challenge now is how to pass it on.
I did pass it on to my kids. They are good and kind.
To me it was a natural thing to do, I have too much empathy as my husband would attest too. I collect animals and young grown kids because I do know that there is 'empathy' inside each one of us.
I was dog sitting for my step sister in NY, walking the dog in leash during rush hour. A man with a bull dog intimidated my dog. So I hugged her in my arms. The pavement was uneven, I fell hard on concrete and the leash was let go out of my hands. No one helped. I was bombarded with profanity and they condemned me for letting the dog run. For one month, where I fell, the bruise was black and blue.
Sorry that happened, Yasmine. Imagine what those abusive people paid forward in their lives.
I was just talking about the lack of empathy amongst humans with my therapist this morning😞 I'm sorry, Mark🫂 Too many people just suck.
Thanks, Jasmine. Yeah, with many it's become very grim. I've really been working to model what I want to see. I am always polite and appreciative to the check-out folks at the grocery store or coffee shop. It's always a little surprising at how startled they are and respond in kind. I can only imagine what many of them have to put up with all day long.
Your experience at the post office made me cry, seriously. I can't believe how cold and cruel humanity has become. If you had fallen in Israel your experience would have been the same. If you had fallen in Gaza, people would be all over you trying to help you up, gather your mail, and ask if you were OK. And yet those are the people we are supposed to accept being starved and murdered, and the indifferent, wealthy, cruel ones are the ones we are supposed to empathize with. Some days I really don't know how I get out of bed. If it weren't for the cats to feed and the business to run, I don't think I could. Truly a cruel world we're living in, especially in the West.
I hear you and struggle with the same issues. I think you are exactly correct in how such an incident would be handled by those in Gaza. Where I try to focus is what I concluded the post with:
Reciprocity is essential to and an expression of a decent society. It is the most essential of our abused and dwindling natural resources. Without it we are all lost.
Practice it.
Model it.
Teach it to the children.
In a time like this and in a society such as ours, it’s truly the most radical act you can do.
The little girl… crushing. Being a human right now is challenging, at best. Regarding the Post Office incident … stop falling.
Okay, as soon as I get up off the floor/
Oh the little girl. My god it’s heartbreaking to see a tiny child so vulnerable like this. How could anyone treat this baby so harshly. I wish I could scoop her up and soothe her heart. Her clothes, her hair, her skin are filthy. She should be running around playing with friends and then washed and clean for bed safe with sweet dreams and a full tummy not this. She needs love and kindness. What kind of world are we living in when this little girls plight can’t stop the bombs falling. God knows what she’s seen with those beautiful eyes. I hope she has someone to care for her. It’s too much to bear.
There does seem to be an underlying angst on the street, people avoid eye contact and don’t want to engage with ‘strangers’. Where is this fear of the ‘other’ coming from?
Trying to put into words what might be happening is entering the world of speculation.
I'm glad you're not too badly hurt from your fall. I think our lack of empathy is building as this genocide continues and worsens... We had 7 murders here this past holiday weekend--all separate incidents. Of course, drinking and fireworks probably played into these crimes, but really... Nobody knows how to talk things out anymore? We kill first, ask questions later (if at all).