As I’m writing this the world has been faced with so much tragedy, including the terror attacks in France. As of the time of this writing 129 people have been confirmed dead, and this is only what is happening in France. These acts bring up a plethora of questions; where do we go from here? How can the world be such a terrible place? How do we cope? But in the end these are questions that obviously don’t have an easy answer.
We now live in the age of the 24 hour news cycle, and the horror of the world is a constant presence. This brings to the forefront grief on the global stage. We live in an age of connectedness like never before, and with that comes collective grief. Despite all the differences, more than ever we need to stop and remember that at the heart of it all, we are all human beings. It is easy to assign blame, to lash out and rage at the people and systems that we believe have “failed us.” It’s normal to feel that anger but anger is so often a secondary emotion. Anger can be what protects us from experiencing other emotions that make us feel exposed and venerable. We have to make the time and space to stand back and acknowledge the horror. To attempt to start to process the profound grief of all the horrors of the world. Sometimes all we can do is take the time to feel our emotions in their full depth and breath. Taking the time and giving ourselves the permission to let our guard down and let come forward whatever it is we need to feel within the present moment. Washington Irving wrote, “there is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.” And when all else fails we need to remember to receive love and give love. To reach out to each other and connect on a basic human level. We have the power to destroy but also the power to create. To create a space of healing, support, courage understanding and tolerance.
Of course we cannot dwell too much within the sorrow and grief, but the acknowledgement of the profundity can go far in lightening the burden of grief we all carry. And that’s what it boils down to. This is a burden that we all carry together, and when we carry it together it doesn’t seem so overwhelming.