Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Grief's cure

I read a quote today from Elbert Hubbard. I have no idea who this is, though I really appreciate his sentiment. "The cure for grief is motion." I was particularly struck by this after watching the coverage of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the U.S. and the protests by Buddhist monks in Burma. To alleviate pain, suffering, and frustration, people strike out. The grief becomes so overwhelming that containing it becomes an insurmountable task.

But there is a different kind of grief that also inspires action. I am thinking about friends of mine who want more from life. My friend, Amy, who is in town for a visit and so incredibly gifted in negotiation and passionate about peaceful resolutions to international conflicts. My friend, Rob, who saw such a need for healing in our society and such a lack of available resources for people to use in their journey to healing that he just returned to graduate school to study social work. There is grief in watching complacency when we know that was is needed in transformation.

The need for re-invention of our daily lives is a constant, and must be at the forefront of our minds all the time. So often we wait for the New Year, or our birthdays, or some other mile marker. Really what we need to do is see every day we have as a time to remake parts of our lives that we wish were different. Wishing for change is also a form of grief. We need to see every day as a call to action. Imagine a world like that....

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was reading old entries in my blog and I had written about a fortune cookie I had received that said "The cure to grief is motion."

So, I googled it tonight and found your blog. I just wanted to let you know that you're absolutely right about not wasting a day. Everyday is a chance to turn it all around.

AIM = TyranasaurusRach :)
Have a good one!

Christa said...

Thank you so much for your kind post and for reading my blog! I really apperciate it. I whole-heartedly believe that motion will get us through just about any challenge.