Overwhelming Sadness

I have noticed that no one is talking about the cyclone that has caused inconceivable loss in Burma nor the earthquake that has killed thousands in China. Then I realized that I wasn't talking about it either. I was pondering this on my way in this morning and I remembered having this feeling a few times before. In fact, whenever we are faced with overwhelming loss like this, our reaction tends to be very slow. I have discovered two underlying reasons.

First of all, it just takes time to process the magnitude of that kind of loss. When I hear that over 100,000 people may die in Burma and that over 10,000 are already counted as dead in China, my brain can't really come to terms with that right away.

I wrote in a blog post August 31st, 2005, (A Deep Sadness):

I am struck with a deep sadness this morning as the full impact of Hurricane Katrina begins to sink in. I realized after December's tsunami that with catastrophic events, it takes a number of days for people to truly understand. Even if we watch all the media coverage, for many, it takes a certain amount of time before the events become real and they are able to begin to process the full emotional impact. I think in a day of information overload, it may be how our brains protect us. But now, beginning to see how bad things are, and beginning to connect with the emotions, this is overwhelmingly sad.

So there is a sort of cognitive delay. There is also scientific evidence that people are less emotionally stirred by mass suffering than they are by the suffering of individuals. There was a great article on this topic by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times some months back. It was called Save the Darfur Puppy and it looks at some of the research beyond the phenomenon that we can look at something as devastating as the loss in Burma and have little reaction yet be devestated by the story of one little girl who lost her parents in the tragedy.

As the scope of the tragedy does begin to filter into our brains, many of us want to help. Unfortunately we just don't know how. Here is a statement from The United Methodist Committee of Relief about how you can help:

Please continue to pray for the cyclone survivors and for additional venues for assistance to be opened to help those in need. Financial gifts will allow UMCOR to respond immediately and with generosity when the appropriate structures are in place to receive further assistance.

You can give to UMCOR by bringing a check to the church and marking it "UMCOR Advance #3019674, Myanmar Emergency" or you can go directly to their website at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/

peace,

will