As if the famine in Africa isn't completely terrible enough for the world to cope with (try to cope with? Try to help? How do you even begin? I just sort of sit and stare at the pictures and can't even imagine the scale of the disaster.) Then there's a bomb in Norway, and before that news has even sunk in then this same guy (reportedly) has killed...how many now? 92 people. And he was dressed as a policeman. And that just...that just hurts in so many ways. I can't imagine how anyone who is linked in any way to that entire situation is coping. It's so many people - young people - and for what? I know it's nothing in scale compared to the famine - but that's one person, one person has taken all of those lives. One person who dressed in a uniform and gathered those kids around him, before shooting them in cold blood.
And now the media has gone mad because Amy Winehouse is dead. Again, a young person, who could have been and done so much - who was so talented, who touched so many people - and what happened? How did her life get so out of control?
It's all on such different scales, but...but nothing is more or less tragic than anything else, in its own way. Just like all the other deaths, all the other small, personal tragedies that happen every day, that all touch someone...sometimes it's just too much, isn't it?
And...I feel like I should have something more insightful to say. And I don't.
I just know I'll be thinking about all those people. And all the people who I see, frozen in death. All the friends I've lost. And all the families I still remember, even after years in the job. And even all the people I've watched step down from the dock. I'll think about all of those.
And in the midst of all that, try to think about all the living too, everyone who makes the world a better place. And I suppose all we can do, when it gets too much, is to think about people like that. Like a life-buoy to cling to.
19 comments:
everyone who makes the world a better place
That's you, love. Come to bed, all right? I think both of us need a hug.
Yeah. Thanks. Sorry. I wasn't even going to write that. This was meant to be about bloody... ponds and cake and Sherlock insisting on victory laps sitting on my shoulders and then all that came out instead.
I know. It's just...madness. There's just nothing else to say, is there? I can't think of anything at least.
No. Think your hug offer is probably the only sensible course of action.
Things will probably seem better in the morning. They usually do, even when they're not.
What gets me is that they got him alive.
The whole thing clearly wasn't passion, but cold. He wants to be a martyr for his cause he wants to tell people why he did it.
That there have always been such people doesn't make it any better, that modern technology means they can have such a huge effect makes it much worse.
My mother was living next to a major nuclear target in Chicago during the Cuban Missile crisis, and she and her family were the only white people in their apartment block during some major civil rights disturbances and riots. (not that the people there were in any way aggro towards them, but some on the street were)
She says that that time taught her that you really do have to tell your close ones you love them every day as you might not get the chance tomorrow.
There's nothing any of us can do about Norway. What we can do is everytime someone jokes about killing people to make a point, or makes racist or bigoted remarks, tell them it's not acceptable. Speak up because otherwise the ones who might grow into that man won't hear you.
Yeah, normal fluff will resume shortly.
The world can be a horrible, messed up place. Sometimes all you can do is hug those around you and just try to remember the good things.
One of the reasons I love history so much is because it helps me remember that, even in the darkest of days, there are always going to be those who step up and do the right thing. There will always be heroes, wearing the guise of everyday, regular people doing the best they can.
*Hugs to you all!*
The world has gone utterly mad, hasn't it? So much senseless waste. The Norway thing has hit me especially hard, as I have a few friends who live there. Haven't heard back yet from them, so it's weighing on me. (I'm sure they're fine; they don't ever respond to email quickly, it's just it would be nice to know for sure.)
Anyways. I'm sorry that the world is weighing so heavily on your shoulder right now. I hope that you take full advantage of all the hugs offered from your boys, and that things seem better for you in the morning.
Hope you hear from your friends soon, X.
Just watching J dozing on me. There are worse things to do in the middle of the night. Dunno if sleep would be good or not, right now.
No matter what happens in the world out there, you have John and the boys, you have your sister, you have your team, and you have us.
I was watching live when they discovered that the Oklahoma Bombing hit the daycare. I don't remember much, but the ex told me I screamed at the television for a while and then broke down sobbing for a while longer. I guess it was because there was nothing else I could do.
Now I do what you're doing, curl up with someone I love. My friends are very understanding that way. (Sometimes their boyfriends aren't, but that's *their* problem.)
*hugs* there's really not a lot TO say. Everything feels like just...screaming into the void.
You pick yourself up and keep trying, after. Try to make your little piece of it better in whatever small way you can.
I don't know what else to say, either.
Hopefully you get to have a lie in today, and that you managed to get a little sleep. I'm going to bed quite shortly and I'll think of you on the way into Morpheus's arms.
I hope you managed to get some rest, if not sleep. John's right, you know, you - and he - are among those who are stepping up to make the world a better place than it would be otherwise.
And I'd love to hear about Sherlock demanding laps of honour on your shoulders; sounds like everyone had a good time at the sports day :-)
Nameless - yeah, thanks. Got a bit of rest.
And thanks. It's too easy to remember all the failures, some times.
Anyway, off out now to get Mycroft some kit. And knowing Sherlock there will undoubtedly be a long and involved explanation of why we HAVE to get ice cream in the park, too, at some point.
Life goes on, eh?
I fail to see why having ice cream in the park should require a long and involved explanation, when it's self-evident that it's important.
And yes, it's easy to be over-whelmed and to forget how important the small things, like hugs and smiles (and ice cream) are, because they don't seem to be important in the grand scheme of things. Yet to the recipient they are just as important.
When the world is weighing on you as it is ice cream in the park with the boys is exactly what you need. Sometimes Sherlock is right.
Smallhobbit - it's good for Sherlock's reasoning skills. We've moved on a long way from a stamped foot and "Because I WANT IT!". Now we're up to the relative merits of eating a cool substance, along with the energy intake and expenditure of walking to get the ice cream, then running about in the park with dogs and frisbees afterward. (Although sometimes I feel we're creating a monster...it's harder now to refuse him the ridiculous things, because he deploys logic against us. Albeit Sherlock-Logic, which isn't that closely related to everyone-else-logic.)
And yeah. Danger was right, sunshine and a day off is making things a little...less bad?
Just watching J dozing on me. There are worse things to do in the middle of the night.
I meant to say this earlier, but got sidetracked. That's a bit of a ways from feeling "trapped" earlier, no? You're an inspiration in a lot of ways, most of which you'll never know. Thank you.
Ah, well, it just all depends on...well, I don't really know, entirely. He wasn't really 'on' me the other night, more just cuddled up against my side. Which is entirely different to when I wake up all covered in duvet with an arm over me. And that's entirely different again to when I'm awake and he's sprawled all over me - which is fine. More than fine. Very nice, in fact.
It's been too hot recently to get like that!
But, um, glad you're inspired. And thank you too.
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