{"id":227,"date":"2012-08-20T17:22:01","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T17:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onfire\/?p=227"},"modified":"2012-08-20T17:22:01","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T17:22:01","slug":"world-news-what-we-can-do-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2012\/08\/20\/world-news-what-we-can-do-now\/","title":{"rendered":"World News: What we can do&#8211;now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onfire\/files\/2012\/08\/5536202284_c72d15a683.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-228\" title=\"5536202284_c72d15a683\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/332\/2012\/08\/5536202284_c72d15a683-300x197.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"197\" \/><\/a>The world news hangs over me:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cArmy suicide rate hits record in July\u201d (USA Today)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYears After Haiti Quake, Safe Housing is a Dream for Many\u201d (The NY Times)<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Pussy Riot\u2019 sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony in Russia\u201d (CSMonitor)<\/p>\n<p>\u201c20 Shiites pulled off Pakistani bus and shot dead\u201d (NY Daily News)<\/p>\n<p><em>Why are soldiers ending their own lives? Why are so many children without basic food and shelter? Why are people killing each other for no good reason? <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0This frickin\u2019 planet is sick, sick, sick.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Add to my gloomy thoughts the daily grind:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Bills to be paid<\/p>\n<p>The car oil needing to be changed<\/p>\n<p>No big opportunities or adventures looming<\/p>\n<p><strong>And I have a recipe for:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Anxiety<\/p>\n<p>Depression<\/p>\n<p>Overwhelm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Then I seek relief:<\/strong> <em>eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow\u2026 <\/em><\/p>\n<p>The relief is temporary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What meets me at the bottom? Darkness. Disbelief.\u00a0 <\/strong>Loss of faith that God is in control, working with and loving all of His creation <em>and winning.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>However, I signed up for faith and for living a spiritual life as a youth. I can\u2019t, <em>I won\u2019t<\/em> go back now. I must return. <strong>Help! I cry out to God.\u00a0 Where are you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Right here, in this place, right now.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>1) I embrace my life once again, giving thanks.<\/p>\n<p>2) Then I return to the moment and, most importantly,<\/p>\n<p><strong>3) Take small concrete actions.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I ask myself: \u201cHow can I serve others? What gift do I have to give? What can I do right now?\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I can write: A blog post. Work on editing my class content. Add an ebook to my website. What helpful, encouraging message can I put out there?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Then I can be open, watch for opportunities to look people in the eye, say their name, acknowledge their worth. At work. At home. In the grocery store. At the gym.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Send emails, snail mail, call people\u2014colleagues, relatives, friends\u2014be present, listen, encourage appropriately.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Pay those bills, get the oil change, eat right, exercise\u2014small acts of taking care of the main resource I have to give\u2014me, my health and strength, my talents, my heart.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Doing the small things I can do, right now, intentionally and sacrificially are how I combat poverty, suicide, and violence.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>How light overtakes darkness.<\/p>\n<p>In me.<\/p>\n<p>In others.<\/p>\n<p>In the world.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/p>\n<p>photo credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/adam_jones\/5536202284\/sizes\/m\/\">Adam Jones, PhD<\/a> (creative commons)<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Dear Reader: this is a new Beliefnet blog. I need your help to make it a success. Would you subscribe (see bar above on the right) plus share this post with a friend who may enjoy it? Also, I appreciate your comments.\u00a0 Thank you, <em>Gloria <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:Gloria@gloriarose.com\">Gloria@gloriarose.com<\/a><\/em><em><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>@gloriabethrose<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The world news hangs over me: \u201cArmy suicide rate hits record in July\u201d (USA Today) \u201cYears After Haiti Quake, Safe Housing is a Dream for Many\u201d (The NY Times) \u201c\u2018Pussy Riot\u2019 sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony in Russia\u201d (CSMonitor) \u201c20 Shiites pulled off Pakistani bus and shot dead\u201d (NY Daily News) Why&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":493,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,15],"tags":[74,123,121,33,119,124,120,122,118],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-calling","category-conflict-obstacles","tag-action","tag-anxiety","tag-army","tag-god","tag-haiti","tag-light","tag-pussy-riot","tag-suicide","tag-world-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - 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