And the World Mourns

Empty prayer, empty mouths, combien reaction
Empty prayer, empty mouths, talk about the passion
Not everyone can carry the weight of the world
Not everyone can carry the weight of the world

Talk about the passion
Talk about the passion

Empty prayer, empty mouths, combien reaction
Empty prayer, empty mouths, talk about the passion
Combien, combien, combien de temps?

Not everyone can carry the weight of the world
Not everyone can carry the weight of the world
Combien, combien, combien de temps?

-Talk about the Passion, R.E.M

Unless you have no empathy for your fellow human beings, yesterday was a difficult day.

Yet, tragedy of this sort is often viewed from intellectual distance. Since the continual daily demands on our time and energy make it nearly impossible to do otherwise, many simply turn their brains off and ignore the impact of world events. A friend of mine said he couldn’t bear to watch the news coverage on Hurricane Katrina anymore because it was “too difficult to face.” This head-in-sand routine has got to stop.

But if and when the emotional impact of these tragedies creep into our respective individual landscapes it often hits hard. Our schools are supposed to be peaceful safe-havens, a place where dreams are born and realized. Many have compared the university system to the concept of the Great Mother, embracing and nurturing students during their transition into adulthood. Parents send their children to colleges expecting they will be safe and flourish accordingly. Attacks within these structures serve as an example of the psychological blue print of the current world order. A mother’s grief, the shock of a sudden loss, the proverbial cosmic rug being yanked out from under one’s feet, all manifestations of our shared reality within the system.

Whether it’s a road-side bomb exploding and killing 30 in Iraq or a gunman on a college campus killing 33, the grief is the same, and we all fester and rot in it together. We cannot afford to draw lines around a map anymore and pretend that we’re not apart of it, it’s real and it’s us. No amount of reality TV, alcohol, sex, or other avoidance tactic will distance us from it. It’s our world and we are responsible.