How many degrees of separation between each of us and the horrors of the world?

[partinobodycular]

I would say the situation is not good.

I would say it's perfect, whatever the future holds, bring it on, I'm ready. Hit me with your best shot. I'm gonna keep gettin' up until I can't get up any more, and I'll treasure every last minute of it.

If you people don't want the horrors of the world then bring'em to me I'll take'em, and never complain a whit. Life... give me every last bit of it.

 

[Chesterton]

I would say it's perfect, whatever the future holds, bring it on, I'm ready. Hit me with your best shot. I'm gonna keep gettin' up until I can't get up any more, and I'll treasure every last minute of it.

If you people don't want the horrors of the world then bring'em to me I'll take'em, and never complain a whit. Life... give me every last bit of it.

Are you drinking this early in the day? You sound like someone who gets his courage from a six pack. Literally no one is impressed with an internet tough guy.

 

[MehGuy]

As far as war stories go my grandfather helped liberate a concentration camp. I think it was Buchenwald. The one with Ilse Koch. He said he saw artifacts made from human remains.

 

[Bradskii]

Are you drinking this early in the day? You sound like someone who gets his courage from a six pack. Literally no one is impressed with an internet tough guy.

I don't think it's meant as you read it.

 

[Chesterton]

I don't think it's meant as you read it.

Well I hope I'm wrong, maybe I am. Not sure how else to read it though. Does sound like some ill-conceived bravado to welcome horror into your life. There are plenty of opportunities for that if you actually want it. For example, one could pay $200 to see the Broadway musical Cats. Then for the rest of your life you'll have the horrific memory that you paid $200 to see a play about cats.

 

[partinobodycular]

Are you drinking this early in the day? You sound like someone who gets his courage from a six pack. Literally no one is impressed with an internet tough guy.

I've never had a drink in my life, and it has absolutely nothing to do with being tough.

I learned long ago that there are three types of challenges in life.

The first is the type of challenge that's common to pretty much everybody, like dealing with being awkward and insecure, and the whole growing up and being a teenager thing, then there's finding someone to share the struggles of life and kids with, and all that that entails. But we don't think too much of those types of challenges because they're the types of challenges that everybody has to go through. So they're not unfair or unjust, they're just life. Whether you were living in a straw hut three thousand years ago, or in the suburbs of New York today, they're just life.

The second type of challenges are the ones that we choose for ourselves, like climbing that mountain, or running that marathon, or even tithing to your church. We don't regret those either because we chose them, and we can walk away from them whenever we want to.

But then there's the third type of challenge. The type that isn't common to everybody, that isn't fair, and that you can't walk away from. But unfortunately they're part of life too. They're the part that leaves us asking God... why me? But if you think about it they're also the types of challenges that we find the most inspirational when people face them with a courage and poise beyond what we would expect, or hope, that any human being would ever have to display.

Those are the people and the challenges that demonstrate the best in us. Now perhaps it would be better if life didn't have such things... if it was always easy, I don't know, I'm not that wise. But I myself find such displays of indomitable human spirit to be one of our noblest qualities. One which it might be a shame to never have known. So if someone must face such challenges, then let it be me. But alas life isn't like that, it isn't fair, and it doesn't always ask for volunteers.

But what I can do, is recognize that among all that suffering, there's an honor and nobility that couldn't have been achieved in any other way. So yes, if someone should have to suffer then let it be me. As I recall, someone two thousand years ago was willing to make the exact same sacrifice. All that I'm saying is that I'm willing to do the same, and I'll do it knowing that it's one of the hardest and most inspiring costs of life. A life for which I'm thankful, no matter what it gives me.

 

[partinobodycular]

Well I hope I'm wrong, maybe I am. Not sure how else to read it though.

Yeah, I can be sneaky sometimes... say stupid things just to get people's attention, then try to explain what I really meant. Of course sometimes I just end up with my foot in my mouth, but I'm cool with that too.

 

[partinobodycular]

Does sound like some ill-conceived bravado to welcome horror into your life.

If you think that my first post was bravado, then this one is going to sound like self-aggrandizement on a massive scale.

For a time when I was young our family took in a young lady who I came to consider a quarter-sister. She is by far the most saintly person that I have ever known. She would later go on to be a Lay Minister. When she was young she had a son who was born with severe cerebral palsy. This son required constant care which she provided without complaint for the next twenty-three years, until he finally had to go into a nursing home. Her patience, self-sacrifice, and love for her son made a big impression on me.

Later I had the opportunity to emulate her act of kindness. For thirty years I cared for family members with health issues, until one by one they all passed away. The last one to go was my sister, who once asked me how I could give so many years of my life to care for others, without ever a complaint of my own. I assured her that it was nothing, and I would gladly give thirty more. My burden was insignificant compared to hers, for I could always walk away, but she couldn't. It was with her every minute of every day. The fact that I didn't complain doesn't mean that I was the inspirational one... she was.

Life isn't about the horrors, it's about how you face the horrors. So think about all the people around you who carry their burdens every single day of their lives, and remember that there but for the grace of God... Then ask yourself, would I be willing to walk a mile in their shoes? The answer should be an unequivocal yes.

Then comes the hard part, because having empathy for the innocent is easy, it's having empathy for the guilty that's hard.

 

[Bradskii]

Then comes the hard part, for having empathy for the innocent is easy, it's having empathy for the guilty that's hard.

Amen to that!

 

[Goonie]

Two?

I can't think of anyone I know who doesn't know or wouldn't have directly known someone caught up in some conflict or other. Or experienced the worst that we can be.

Now there's a cheerful topic...

Parents are giving lodgings to mother and daughter from Ukraine.

 

[Goonie]

Had dinner with Douglas Adams's publisher, and official biographer a decade ago.

 

[Chesterton]

I've never had a drink in my life, and it has absolutely nothing to do with being tough.

I learned long ago that there are three types of challenges in life.

The first is the type of challenge that's common to pretty much everybody, like dealing with being awkward and insecure, and the whole growing up and being a teenager thing, then there's finding someone to share the struggles of life and kids with, and all that that entails. But we don't think too much of those types of challenges because they're the types of challenges that everybody has to go through. So they're not unfair or unjust, they're just life. Whether you were living in a straw hut three thousand years ago, or in the suburbs of New York today, they're just life.

The second type of challenges are the ones that we choose for ourselves, like climbing that mountain, or running that marathon, or even tithing to your church. We don't regret those either because we chose them, and we can walk away from them whenever we want to.

But then there's the third type of challenge. The type that isn't common to everybody, that isn't fair, and that you can't walk away from. But unfortunately they're part of life too. They're the part that leaves us asking God... why me? But if you think about it they're also the types of challenges that we find the most inspirational when people face them with a courage and poise beyond what we would expect, or hope, that any human being would ever have to display.

Those are the people and the challenges that demonstrate the best in us. Now perhaps it would be better if life didn't have such things... if it was always easy, I don't know, I'm not that wise. But I myself find such displays of indomitable human spirit to be one of our noblest qualities. One which it might be a shame to never have known. So if someone must face such challenges, then let it be me. But alas life isn't like that, it isn't fair, and it doesn't always ask for volunteers.

But what I can do, is recognize that among all that suffering, there's an honor and nobility that couldn't have been achieved in any other way. So yes, if someone should have to suffer then let it be me. As I recall, someone two thousand years ago was willing to make the exact same sacrifice. All that I'm saying is that I'm willing to do the same, and I'll do it knowing that it's one of the hardest and most inspiring costs of life. A life for which I'm thankful, no matter what it gives me.

Okay I apologize for misreading your post. Here's where I was coming from: I've heard atheists express the sentiment that "religion is a crutch, and I don't need a crutch", as if we all acknowledge that life can be hard, but they can face it on their own, as if they are tougher than religious people. That's what I thought you were saying.

Also though, the OP uses the word "horrors" and you're talking about "challenges", which I think are two different things.

But I agree with your post here, in fact, it sounds pretty Christian. Hardship can be a source of growth, maybe the only source of growth. I'm recalling a C. S. Lewis quote something to the effect of "Men are concerned with what will happen to them. God is concerned with how they will respond to what happens."

 

[Chesterton]

Yeah, I can be sneaky sometimes... say stupid things just to get people's attention, then try to explain what I really meant. Of course sometimes I just end up with my foot in my mouth, but I'm cool with that too.

No worries mate, no worries. If I had a dollar for every time I stuck my foot in my mouth I'd be a wealthy man.

 

[Chesterton]

If you think that my first post was bravado, then this one is going to sound like self-aggrandizement on a massive scale.

For a time when I was young our family took in a young lady who I came to consider a quarter-sister. She is by far the most saintly person that I have ever known. She would later go on to be a Lay Minister. When she was young she had a son who was born with severe cerebral palsy. This son required constant care which she provided without complaint for the next twenty-three years, until he finally had to go into a nursing home. Her patience, self-sacrifice, and love for her son made a big impression on me.

Later I had the opportunity to emulate her act of kindness. For thirty years I cared for family members with health issues, until one by one they all passed away. The last one to go was my sister, who once asked me how I could give so many years of my life to care for others, without ever a complaint of my own. I assured her that it was nothing, and I would gladly give thirty more. My burden was insignificant compared to hers, for I could always walk away, but she couldn't. It was with her every minute of every day. The fact that I didn't complain doesn't mean that I was the inspirational one... she was.

Life isn't about the horrors, it's about how you face the horrors. So think about all the people around you who carry their burdens every single day of their lives, and remember that there but for the grace of God... Then ask yourself, would I be willing to walk a mile in their shoes? The answer should be an unequivocal yes.

Then comes the hard part, because having empathy for the innocent is easy, it's having empathy for the guilty that's hard.

Much respect to you.. I was the sole care provider for my mother with severe Alzheimer's for 11 years. There were days and nights when it just felt physically and emotionally unbearable to go on. But I would do it again if I had to.

 

[DaisyDay]

The current genocide in Gaza has brought my husband vivid memories of his childhood with the bombings, starvation and despair of war and occupation. He is having a hard time of it.