tragedy - Waking Spirals

Compassion and Criticism

“You only see what you know.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

For the last two days I have been watching reactions to the events in Paris. Many people have talked about how people are acting sad about the event while ignoring similar horrific events in other parts of the world.
I see the point I really do.
Tho let’s shrink the scale down a little.
Would you tell a grieving widow or child that they were wrong to mourn just their loved one when 50 other people in the area died the same day?
How about someone who was mourning a neighbour?
“It’s really cheap of you to only care about that person. Fred Wilkes who lives three states over got killed and I don’t see you mourning them.”
Seems kind of tacky, no?
The truth is that mourning one person or for those in one country does not make you unfeeling towards others. It just means that for one reason or another, it has affected you more.
Is it because of the media? Perhaps.
Perhaps it is because many people can relate to what happens in Paris quicker than what happens in Lebanon or Russia. Perhaps either they have visited there or hope to or they have friends who have more recently.
Having compassion for one event does not mean you do not have it for others
and covering your profile picture with the flag of France does not mean that you don’t feel for the suffering of people in other places. It is for many just that it is more relatable and that’s ok.
There are horrific acts of terror happening in many places in the world so often that many of us become numbed to the horror of it.
At some point we need to say “No More” to all of it.
Perhaps it is easier to do this when something strikes closer to home.
It is both supercilious and jaded to believe that this is a reaction that is only media driven just as it would be for me to suggest that those who feel so free to tell everyone whom and when to mourn are more interested in pointing out the flaws of others than showing genuine compassion.
Blessings, G

Click on images to see full-sized:

A Guide in the Field by G A Rosenberg

Abstract Hidden Dragon by G A Rosenberg

Of Timing, Tragedy and Tunnel Vision

“Your best work involves timing. If someone wrote the best hip hop song of all time in the Middle Ages, he had bad timing.”
― Scott Adams

As those of you who have read this blog for awhile know, I’ve been working on the Tarot Project for about five years now. Of these five years most of the last year and a half were at something of a standstill. For various reasons I felt blocked and unmotivated to continue. I went away on the trip and came back with a renewed sense of purpose. In the last three and a half weeks, I have covered 11 cards of the Major Arcana and have been finishing off a new entry in order every two or three days.
Sunday I finished card XI-Strength and the next one up was the Hanged Man. Today true to form and my own deadlines, I finished the entry and posted it. What totally fell out of my mind thru all of it was that my timing might have, in the wake of yesterday’s events come off as a bit insensitive.
Robin Williams comedy spoke to many of us. Last night I wrote about how it spoke to me. I think part of what happened besides my own tunnel-vision commitment to self-imposed deadlines and wanting to see this project through is that it is still somewhat difficult to accept his death and the manner of it. By that I don’t mean one of those bizarre conspiracy theories that have started to spring up. It is a shock pure and simple. In a year where tragedy in the world has become heart-wrenchingly common place, this one struck home in a particularly close way. That and bad timing. I didn’t even connect the card entry with Robin Williams until a friend pointed it out on FB. It was a maximum Face palm moment.
Synchronicity has struck in many strange ways during my work on this project. I apologize profusely to anyone who thought my entry was a particularly tasteless statement. Tho I’d like to think with his appreciation for irony Robin would have found it somewhat funny.
Blessings, G

Click on images to see full-sized:

Holding Pattern by G A Rosenberg

Fears of a Clown by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – September 11 2011

“There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathise with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life’s sores the better.

–Oscar Wilde

Ten years ago, a tragedy happened in which many people were killed. I honour their passing and despise the fear-mongering, hatred and exploitation that has come from it.

“Still I persist in wondering must folly always be our nemesis”

–Edgar Pangborn

Today even more than usual, I intend to let as many people as possible know how much they mean to me and spread joy, laughter and yes colour.

Click on Images to see full-size

Colour Space Dance Joy by G A Rosenberg

Dancing Colours by G A Rosenberg

Mandala1 by G A Rosenberg