There’s a lot going on in our world these days.
And not much of it, well, maybe almost none of it, positive.
Ebola, Iraq, Gaza, Ukraine…
and even a refugee crisis developing along the southern U.S. border.
And it seems everyone has an opinion on why these things are happening and what should be done about them.
Even those opinions are generally couched in negative terms.
We desperately need to place blame, don’t we?
And if it’s remotely possible to blame Obama…even better!
But placing blame generally doesn’t solve anything.
I even heard about Donald Trump tweeting that the U.S. health workers who contracted the Ebola virus not be allowed back in the U.S.
…”KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!,” demands the Donald…
what compassion!
OK, so enough of the negative. Is there any way to put some positive spin on all this?
Without resorting to cliches like…
every day above ground is a good one?
But it is, isn’t it?
Well, not for me…I can almost hear your thoughts out there.
Hey, I could easily agree with you. Lately my life has, well, kinda sucked.
From business to personal relationships, nothing is going too well for me.
Maybe the right approach to these events is the compassionate one.
Rather than the isolationist one.
Oh sure, I can understand where Trump is coming from, as well as some Israelis calling for a genocidal response to the Gaza problem and the tea-party crowd in the U.S. demanding that the women and children amassing on the border be shipped right back into the jaws of the brutal criminal gangs they are fleeing for their lives.
But those are isolationist reactions…
and it is very hard to have an impact when coming from a standpoint of isolation…
as opposed to compassion.
It was compassion that drove those two health workers to face death caring for patients in West Africa.
It is isolation and fear that motivate Trump to tweet that they not be allowed to come back home and receive care themselves.
One action was motivate by love.
The other by fear.
One motivated by a desire to make an impact.
The other solely a desire for self-preservation.
And an irrational one at that.
I don’t know about you, but I believe everything possible should be done to give those who fought for others to beat the virus the best possible chance of beating it themselves.
That’s compassion.
And compassion always trumps (to pardon a pun) isolation and fear.
What do you think?
Who do you think has an attitude of impact…
Trump or those two sick workers?
Isolation or Impact…that’s the question this post poses…
which do you choose?
A little food for thought for you this Saturday morning.
image credit: Gage Skidmore via Compfight cc
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