Sister texted about a friend going off to Poland to help with refugee resettlement; he speaks Polish, so this makes sense.
Niece the Eldest texted about friends on the ground in Ukraine. She can send them money directly and they can use it to help others with immediate needs. This makes sense, too - my donation won't be going to overhead.
Gas prices are inching up and I'm cutting back on driving and that makes sense, too. I'm willing to pay more to ride around my safe town, doing normal things, not worrying about dumb bombs dropping on my head.
If women my age and older are taking up arms, paying more for my pleasures makes sense, too.
Joe Biden, former Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is in charge and that makes perfect sense, too. I spend time every day thinking the gods that the former guy is not currently running the show.
Bombing a maternity hospital makes no sense at all. I saw that on the news feed and stopped doom scrolling for the day. Taking care of myself makes all the sense in the world. I'll save my emotional energies for supporting Queen T - and that makes the most sense of all.
Nice to find some sense in these senseless times.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, I had to dig to find it.
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A very sensible post.
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Does Queen T recommend any specific place to make donations to help the people of Ukraine?
ReplyDeleteThere is now a distinction between taking care of oneself and being there for others. They have uniquely become strange bedfellows…it has become essential, and hardly selfish, to take care of yourself first. Our cores have been shaken from the deprivation of human contact to being able to compartmentalize enough to be in the sadness and the grief while coexisting with joy and abundance… experienced through a different lens.
ReplyDeleteWhether we or the ones we love are touched by violence or oppression, the grief must somehow coexist with living a full and connected life.
I am struggling Thru this metamorphic like change because it does not feel right or familiar.
One of the things I love about reading your blogs, Ashleigh, is that you invite us to go on this journey with you. It feels less alone and disconnected to be reflecting on your musings. The unexplainable horrors do not go away and the sadness for those unable to be in simple pleasures is palpable. However, we must not be dead to the emotions while not having it cripple our capacity to feel.
In this chapter of my 69th year, I am finding an uneasy alliance with grief and joy. I don’t want to hide from either and yet is not an easy road.
Thank you for promoting the articulation of these concepts. Going thru this consciously is a challenge, yet it is my challenge during this time. However, navigating this path is so much easier when we all do it together in a loving and non judgmental manner.
Thanks, Ashleigh!