Log #69 (Hallelujah!!!)

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord! Sacrifice the fatted calf! Prepare the feast! Gather the family around! Alert the press! Bow down and give thanks!

Oh how wonderful it is to have a normal bowel movement!

Yes, you heard me right... a bowel movement!

It's amazing how blessed I can feel for such a natural, every day, thing.

It's easy to take for granted so many things in our lives and I think one of the many positive things that comes from the situation I'm in is that--when I'm not feeling sorry for myself--the little things mean so much more for me.

Tonight, as my two boys were beginning to do the dishes, I looked at them and felt such gratitude for the way they handle all of this and I had to go up to them, hug them, and tell them how much I love them. In the morning before they go to school we say a prayer together and this morning I was so tired when they came into my room that I was barely able to open my eyes. I asked one of them to say the prayer and in the middle of it I think I fell asleep. They didn't laugh or make a big deal about it at all. They know I have a hard time sleeping and they are so good at keeping things quiet. If I wasn't in so much pain and disabled, I may not have noticed as much how much they love me.

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do bad things happen to innocent people?

These are the same questions that humans have asked from the beginning. It seems like everyday there are disasters throughout the world. News reports show starving children who suffer because of evil dictators. In war, the innocent are killed in the crossfire of the combating armies. Then there the people who have given their time and lives for the communities they live in and then they get and die from horrible diseases. Good people losing their homes in the economic chaos. These and so many other things that are as numerous as the stars in the sky.

We ask... Why does this have to happen?

Some say it is God cursing people for something terrible they've done. Some say that it's proof that there is no God.

It all boils down to needing a reason why, or an explanation for, the calamities around us. We want to believe that there is a purpose in all of this. Even the person who says it's proof there is no God is assigning the reason for things as "proof." If there is no reason behind all of this suffering it leaves us with a sense of hopelessness. We want to classify and order things because the alternative is too scary.

Why can't we look at these terrible events and compare them to our own lives and see just how good we have it? Why do we have to assign the blame to something or someone and then forget about it without taking the time think about how we would feel--personally--if we were thrust into that situation?

When we have someone or something to blame then responsibility for the chaos is put upon that person or thing and we are able to walk away without feeling any need to do anything about it. It all becomes their problem, not ours.

If there is something to be gained from all of this--it doesn't matter if it's God's will or pure chance--when hardships strike at the good and innocent, the weak and pure, we should look within ourselves and measure just how many good things we have around us and find joy in that. While we truly examine how good we have it, we will feel more compassion for the stricken, our hearts will be changed and our desires will become less selfish, and more importantly we will be moved into action to do something to ease the suffering of the afflicted.

What one person suffers from, you may someday suffer yourself.
The disaster that strikes there, may someday strike here.
The innocent killed there, may someday be killed here.
Whatever calamity that befalls another may one day befall you.

When you are on the losing side of things you will cry and moan because you are misunderstood. You will weep and wail because no one will help you. When you lose everything you have you'll scream and yell because no one will assist you. Believe me, I know this will happen, because I'm on the suffering side of the coin and I know what both sides look like. When you're on the good side you have the ability and resources to do something for those who don't, but unfortunately we refuse to take a roll in their suffering because it takes too much of our time or keeps us from getting what we want--from acquiring things.

I am grateful I had a bowel movement today without having to do an enema. Can you believe that?

Do you think that before all of this happened to me I even considered what someone else with these problems was really going through? Sure I felt bad for them and maybe sometimes I tried to do something good for them, but did I ever really try to put myself in their place so I could try and understand how much they were suffering? NO!

All I ask now of everyone who reads this entry is to think of someone you know or something bad that happened to someone you heard about in the news. Try to imagine what you would feel like if those things had happened to you. Try to picture how difficult the task is that they have to face and then think of how you would handle those tasks if you were in their place. Really consider the difficulty that living in this world has dropped in their lap and then do something about it.

Don't just think about what you would like to do, but really do it. Do whatever you are capable of doing for that person or those people. Give just a little bit of your time or your money or your talents to do something that will help those that are suffering now, or will suffer in the future. Do it today! Do it before you find yourself in their position and wondering why no one will help you!

PLEASE MAKE COMMENTS!!!! If you have similar experiences then please write them here. It may help someone else when you write your point of view. ANY comment, question, or suggestion is appreciated!!!