I wonder if the president is getting enough coffee. He seems like he’s just not that into being president. I don’t mean this to be critical in any way, but there is a dimness about the man that suggests a need for caffeine. It is not enough simply to refrain from adultery and tax increases and make the occasional trip to Idaho to announce that we are winning the war in Iraq. It’s the French who take the whole month of August off, Mr. President. That’s not us. Americans are not idlers and layabouts and feather merchants, we’re strivers and pluggers and we welcome adversity, so long as we have coffee. Its bitterness is sweet to us.
–Garrison Keillor, Mitigating Life’s Daily Grind
The media continues to mention how Bush cut his vacation short, but to this I say, “Big whoop.” He cut it short by two days, as he should. Why make a big deal of the president fulfilling duties that his position requires?
Hmm. Usually this blog is not so negatively focused. I am struggling to manage my internal responses to all this. My husband, bless him, does not understand this part of me very well. He suggests that I “feast on” the negativity, that I do it “everytime” there’s a major disaster, such as 9/11 or the Asian tsunami. What is so hard to convey is that I grieve, despite the fact I’m relatively distant from the event. It is not morbidity that drives me. It is a sense of connection with humanity. I know life must go on. People must work, do chores, and need to have a little fun. And I will. Just not right now, not this week. Don’t the refugees and the victims deserve that small amount of my attention, care, and prayer? Grief is part of life. What I don’t understand is how we can give it so little acknowledgment and room in our lives. Like coffee, its bitterness is sweet.
But considering eight of my last ten posts were about this catastrophe, perhaps I ought to take a step back, away from this outlet, and experience my mourning in private.
I completely understand your way of grieving. Mine is different – I can only watch the news for a few minutes and am overwhelmed. Last night, my husband asked me to watch a whole program showing what is happening with him, and I made it through most of it. Then, I sat up late, unable to sleep. I appreciate all you have written here. It’s helped me in the expression of sorrow and helplessness we all feel.
When you go to Sacred Ordinary you will see that we are on the same page. Thinking of you.
I feel the same way.. But I have to take moments out. This is one more thing on top of so many that can easily lead me to darker places. And if I don’t stop to breathe, I am overwhelmed.
I am angry at the officials (state, federal and even local), concerned for the people… and there are moments when I want to scream at some of the folks who are writing about this with zero comprehension of the realities of the lives of the folks there before the disaster… and what they are faced with now. I grieve with the many folks who are trapped, lost everything, lives, loved ones, and can feel the hopelessness that must accompany this..
You aren’t alone in thinking about all of this and feeling emotions flowing ..
Bush’s dimness is certainly not a laughing matter, but I did laugh reading Keillor’s remarks. I, too, have been focused fully for the last week on the Katrina devastation. I feel almost guilty NOT focusing on it–it just doesn’t seem right to go on as if everything is A-OK when it’s not for hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans right now. But I am trying to, little by little, get a little balance back into my life.
I have been struggling with this myself – I find myself constantly turning to CNN and I know that it’s not so that I can be macabre, but rather… to feel connected with the world and the things that happen on her – including the bad.
It’s my loss when I ignore the good things in life. It might be someone else’s loss if I ignore the ugly and do not try to help.