Woke up to more bad news from Aleppo, Syria. After months of rebel resistance, the city is retaken by government and allied (Russian, Iranian) troops. “It has been almost six years since the fighting began and we are wondering what the world is doing for us. In the past week alone bombs have fallen on four hospitals, six schools, two bakeries and the White Helmets HQ,” Dr. Hamza al-Khatib posted a few weeks ago, “each day is worse than yesterday.”
My heart retreats in fear; can’t read any further. Anything on my to-do list, the petty worries, all vanish into insignificance — replaced by a sense of helplessness. The German word Ohnmacht describes this reaction as “without strength, lacking power; also fainting.” The latter, in medical terms, syncope: a temporary loss of consciousness and posture, described as “fainting” or “passing out,” caused by insufficient blood flow to the brain.
I feel powerless in the face of so much suffering: nothing I could say or do will make it better, no amount of lamenting or blaming or donating to the Red Cross make it go away. What am I — what are you — left with when confronted with such injustice?
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
I’m so sorry for all our suffering. There is nothing to say.
May (we) be filled with lovingkindness.
May (we) be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May (we) be well in body and mind.
May (we) be at ease and happy.
https://jackkornfield.com/meditation-lovingkindness
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say:
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.
From “Kindness” by Naomi Shihab Nye