How do you react to all the horrible things that happen in the world?

*points at signature*

Cimorene said:

I'm just wondering what you do after learning about terrible things like the all the shootings lately. Now the new terrorist attack in France. Do you pray? Do you do something else? Tbh I'm looking forward to going to camp & not having Wifi for a while so I'm less aware of all the awful stuff happening in the world. That kind of makes me feel selfish. Is it? I'll learn all about everything awful afterwards but it will be nice to have some time not knowing about it.

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Everything happens for a reason and if you want to find out the reasons, you have to peel back the layers and get to the core.

IMO, the driver of much of this, is simply abnormal human psychology, that motivates people to do things the vast majority of the population wouldn't dream of doing.

I don't know. Tragic news stories generally do not effect me very much.

I usually think people fake more sadness than they actually have. Thunderf00t a popular Youtuber made a good video about something similar to this. That humans will tend to feel more sad about something that happened to a fictional character on a TV show they love than the millions of people who died in the holocaust. Some people said he was a monster, but he was just being realistic and honest about humanity.

And people can be more concerned about their dog or cat.

Cimorene said:

I'm just wondering what you do after learning about terrible things like the all the shootings lately. Now the new terrorist attack in France. Do you pray? Do you do something else? Tbh I'm looking forward to going to camp & not having Wifi for a while so I'm less aware of all the awful stuff happening in the world. That kind of makes me feel selfish. Is it? I'll learn all about everything awful afterwards but it will be nice to have some time not knowing about it.

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Yes, it makes me pray. And it makes me resent the cowardice and self-righteousness behind the acts. And it confirms for me the doctrine of original sin; somethin' ain't right with humanity, something isn't as it "should be".

Cimorene said:

I'm just wondering what you do after learning about terrible things like the all the shootings lately. Now the new terrorist attack in France. Do you pray? Do you do something else? Tbh I'm looking forward to going to camp & not having Wifi for a while so I'm less aware of all the awful stuff happening in the world. That kind of makes me feel selfish. Is it? I'll learn all about everything awful afterwards but it will be nice to have some time not knowing about it.

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I'm going to be tipping some serious sacred cow here, but I'm
a big believer that when it comes to the news, no news is
good news. So I eliminate it from my daily regimen as best I
can.

Nothing is what it seems anyway; I can't be 100% sure at any
given time that what I see / read is exactly as it's being
portrayed. It's not as though things can't be orchestrated to
look a certain way. Where it's not being outright staged, it's
being spun beyond recognition, in order to sway my opinion
a certain way. Heck, maybe that's why they're called news
"programs"; they're "programming" people.

The media is a manipulator, and I, for one, have simply gotten
tired of asking "How high?" every time it says "Jump!"

I'll try to do my best to make the world a better place where I'm at,
because that's all I can do. If it was my Duty to actively worry
about calamity on every square inch of the globe, I would've
been gifted with the powers of omnipotence and omnipresence.
In the meantime, all that such news could possibly do is trigger
one's fight-or-flight response unnecessarily, and this just might, in turn,
trigger the sorts of things we see on the news. A vicious cycle, that.




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It's overwhelming and heartbreaking

Yes, i pray, and make a bee-line for some comedy, etc......

and i try to slow down and be thankful for things like seeing light'nin bugs and butterflies and birds...and trees....

(i moved from a concrete jungle so to speak where none of these creatures could be found.....)

before i moved i would watch something i found on Youtube...

'tis good fer just stopping, slowing down, n' absorbing the beauty of their ballet:

Good question, by the way, Cimorene

Cimorene said:

I'm just wondering what you do after learning about terrible things like the all the shootings lately. Now the new terrorist attack in France. Do you pray? Do you do something else? Tbh I'm looking forward to going to camp & not having Wifi for a while so I'm less aware of all the awful stuff happening in the world. That kind of makes me feel selfish. Is it? I'll learn all about everything awful afterwards but it will be nice to have some time not knowing about it.

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It makes me sad and weary. Sometimes, I get frustrated and angry that people are popping up everywhere that hate themselves and others so much that they devalue life to the extent that they want to kill as many as possible. I have VERY negative and uncharitable thoughts about the specific religious ideology that spawns most of it. I do pray- especially for the victims and their families. I have to force myself to pray for the perps. That's really, really hard for me to do.

If I were you, I wouldn't feel bad about looking forward to camp to get away from negative news. I often escape into reading for the same reason.

Honestly, I no longer know how to respond when terrible things happen. They seem so commonplace and, sadly, normal these days that I really believe I've become numb to many emotions I have about it all. It's not that I don't care, because I do, just that the level of anxiety and depression I'd feel if I let myself really accept what's going on would be overwhelming. Terrorism seems to happen all the time now, and I've noticed that lots of people are shocked and saddened for a bit, but then seem to go on with their day. It's ordinary now...

When the Columbine massacre happened, in April '99, I was seventeen years old. My family was living in the States at that time, and I can still remember exactly where I was when I first heard about the shootings. I can also remember the sensation of electric shock that went through my body and how completely and utterly bewildered I was. My parents came back from work early, and we gathered with friends and neighbours, despite the fact we were on the east coast and none of us knew anyone involved in the incident. Everyone was crying and praying, some were talking about pulling children out of government schools and others were lambasting teen subcultures. For weeks after, there wasn't much else on the news except Columbine: grieving parents of victims, experts trying to figure out what happened, and blame for everything from a mythical "trench coat Mafia" to Marilyn Manson. Lots of families set early curfews for their children or insisted on chaperoning them everywhere, and my parents warned us against using the internet, wearing black or listening to rock music. Life changed after Columbine. It had an effect and stayed with me for many years after. Fast forward to now...when I heard the news about the attack in Nice, France, I happened to be at an airport coffee shop. Everyone glanced up and there were of course many shocked noises, a few tears and lots of questions. But within a matter of minutes, everyone shrugged it off and got on with their lives. Same with the Dallas police officer shooting. There seems to be a moment of collective outrage, which sputters out into a sigh as people concentrate on work, family, school. I spoke to friends in the States who said they heard the news on their commute and didn't think about it after arriving at their destination. I think for many people, terrorism, IS/ISIS/Daesh and random acts of violence happen so frequently it's become normal. I have no idea how to respond any more.

i also hang out on this forum as well as other fun forums:

http://www.christianforums.com/threads/post-something-goofy.1287140/page-31#post-69899946

I'm thinking of how a thunderstorm can be quite violent, but the rain brings a lot more life than whatever the thunder and lightning might have taken away.

I think of how violence can be a warning that people are getting more and more into sin; it can be a wake-up call.

If I and my lady friend start to get into arguing, we can see this as a warning sign that . . . I am getting the wrong way. And I need to pray before I do anything else with her >

"with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love," (Ephesians 4:2)

"nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)

I think I have seen how a nation using violence has not gotten peace. Ones can win a fight, but not "win the peace".

"But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:13)

So, if I see how things go for others who are violent and arguing, this can be a lesson for how I myself need correction I see I need to be humble and prayerful.

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain." (Philippians 2:14-16)

So, if we stop our own complaining and arguing, we can become "harmless". I see how complaining and arguing can be violence which helps to bring more and more obvious hurt and violence. But if we stop our complaining, this can help us get into God's love which will perfectly satisfy us. And in God's love we will not try to use arguing to get what we want. And in God's love we will be safe so we do not try to use arguing and other sorts of violence to try to defend ourselves.

"And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?" (1 Peter 3:13)

com7fy8 said:

I'm thinking of how a thunderstorm can be quite violent, but the rain brings a lot more life than whatever the thunder and lightning might have taken away.

I think of how violence can be a warning that people are getting more and more into sin; it can be a wake-up call.

If I and my lady friend start to get into arguing, we can see this as a warning sign that . . . I am getting the wrong way. And I need to pray before I do anything else with her >

"with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love," (Ephesians 4:2)

"nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)

I think I have seen how a nation using violence has not gotten peace. Ones can win a fight, but not "win the peace".

"But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:13)

So, if I see how things go for others who are violent and arguing, this can be a lesson for how I myself need correction I see I need to be humble and prayerful.

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain." (Philippians 2:14-16)

So, if we stop our own complaining and arguing, we can become "harmless". I see how complaining and arguing can be violence which helps to bring more and more obvious hurt and violence. But if we stop our complaining, this can help us get into God's love which will perfectly satisfy us. And in God's love we will not try to use arguing to get what we want. And in God's love we will be safe so we do not try to use arguing and other sorts of violence to try to defend ourselves.

"And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?" (1 Peter 3:13)

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Yes, and I do think one's mindset (heartset?) is key in all this.

If I find I'm operating from a foundation of love, it seems to impact not only myself, but those around me. It seems to have an effect on the very atmosphere that surrounds me, and others draw comfort from it, and the result is peace.

But if I'm operating from a cranky, to-heck-with-it foundation... Hooo boy, look out. I don't even have to be outwardly expressing it; people can pick up on it, and things can happen as a result of that which just reinforces that to-heck-with-it attitude on my part. That's where the craziness can get a foothold.

The violence that we see in the world is perpetrated by those who might not yet have learned to operate from the foundation of love. The world is filled with people at different stages of growth, and this will make itself evident. They've been through things and have their reasons for doing what they do that I have yet to understand. It's quite a diverse spectrum; we're all in this together; we're all learning, all evolving at our own pace. And that's fine; I think the Lord has things well in hand, even if it doesn't look that way from my vantage-point.


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chaela said:

Yes, and I do think one's mindset (heartset?) is key in all this.

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I consider that it can be mindset and heartset and soul . . . soul meaning more our feelings and emotions which are related to, rooted in, our heart's character and our mind's ways of acting out of our character.

chaela said:

If I find I'm operating from a foundation of love, it seems to impact not only myself, but those around me. It seems to have an effect on the very atmosphere that surrounds me, and others draw comfort from it, and the result is peace.

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A thunderstorm can effect the atmosphere, and surely a fresh-smelling easy breeze can.

But in love I can need a thunderstorm of God's correction . . . in me > Hebrews 12:4-11. But this will produce "the peaceable fruit of righteousness" - - - not what selfish angry reacting will.

chaela said:

I don't even have to be outwardly expressing it; people can pick up on it,

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I have observed how if I am doing lust things in my mind, this can cut me off from lovingly relating with other people. And I can be shut down so I am not attentive to people and smiling and encouraging. When I am busy with loving, I am alert and attentive to people, smiling, caring. So, there are lust things, as well as anger and negative attitudes, witch can make me so, I suppose, people around me can see I am not with it. And it is not the main thing . . . if people can see through me . . . but I am missing out on love while I am in mental lust stuff and paranoid accusing and controlling.

So, from this I can see we might need to ask not only how we react to bad news, but how do we need to react to what violates us in our own minds and feelings and emotions. And I would say pray and trust God to have us do better. And then we are an example deeper than only what we show . . . an example in the sight of God, which He can spread to help to make others the same way.

How we really are can be what we really are spreading to others, including our children!!

So, part of my reaction to evil in this world is . . . needs to be . . . good example. This can help to change people, deeply, not only somehow reforming people while they do not get better, inside.

I turn to God himself, and say "I sure hope you have a plan and a good reason for all of this."

ReesePiece23 said:

"I sure hope you have a plan and a good reason for all of this."

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I think of how Joseph with God took advantage of the horrible things which his brothers did to him > Genesis 37:50.

He even used his situation to get into more and better family sharing, even with those brothers who sold him into slavery and for years let their father keep on suffering because they tricked him into thinking Joseph had been torn and eaten by a wild animal.

And Jesus on the cross had hope for any evil person, at all.

And Jesus never gave up on His disciples

Love "hopes all things" > in 1 Corinthians 13:7.

Cimorene said:

I'm just wondering what you do after learning about terrible things like the all the shootings lately. Now the new terrorist attack in France. Do you pray? Do you do something else? Tbh I'm looking forward to going to camp & not having Wifi for a while so I'm less aware of all the awful stuff happening in the world. That kind of makes me feel selfish. Is it? I'll learn all about everything awful afterwards but it will be nice to have some time not knowing about it.

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In all honesty....
The first reaction is, off course, general disgust and sadness.
The second reaction is, however,.... Closing the news website and just carry on with my life.

I don't have the time nore the energy to dwell on every nasty thing that happens in the world. I'ld be permanently depressed (and afraid). And it's not like I can do anything to change reality. At least not at this time. The best I can do today, is perhaps donate some money or clothes or what-have-you. But that's about it.

In a way, I also think that that is the best way to deal with terrorists, specifically. Not dwell on them. Not allow them to make you change your lifestyle. Not allow them to frighten you to frequent a certain event or place.

I'm also the kind of guy who thinks "if you want to change the world, start with yourself".

And that's the best I can do... I can only be nice to people and hope others will follow my example.

And should the nastyness come to my door, I'll deal with it when it happens.
The cold fact is that I have my own life and family to worry about.

Not that I don't care what happens to victims and refugees etc... But rather that "it's not my job" to make that help happen. I can contribute to the resources required to give that help, but it's other people / organizations that will be doing it.

I am not able to do it.