Two days ago, my girlfriend and I were involved in a five car pile up in Sunshine. Everyone is ok, with the exception of some whiplash. I never knew what whiplash was until now. It's not fun. That being said, there was no major damage to anyone involved. My girl's car however is a ride-off.
The thing that struck me, which I have heard talked about in theory, was how everyone responded after the accident. We were in the middle of Sunshine and my first thought was that someone would get out of their car and have a go, at someone, anyone. But that didn't happen. Obviously all that were involved were shaken and upset. This is normal. But everyone was asking everyone else, "are you alright". A friend of mine writes about this in one of his books. He calls it (or maybe he borrowed the term) communitas. It basically means when a group of people go through an adverse situation together, they get drawn closer together. Now, I'm not saying that everyone in the accident is going to catch up for dinner (although that would be interesting). But the way people seemed to show genuine care was enough to make the whole trauma a little better.
I am also aware that we have seen so many examples of this through history. Through tragic bushfires, through floods, bombings etc. It is not unusual for people to react this way. I was however expecting far worse.
I guess what I was thinking was that it is sad that people only draw closer together when there seems to be some obvious tragedy. But isn't it a tragedy that there are thousands of homeless people on our streets? Isn't is a tragedy that children die because of neglect and abuse? Isn't it a tragedy that in third world countries people are suffering because of the lack of medicine that we could pick up off the supermarket shelves?
Are we just too blind to see? Or are our immediate, up front in your face problems the centre of our universe?
I know when I am facing either severe internal or external stress, not much else seems to exist. I am the first to admit my blindness (and for those who know me, not speaking literally here).
This is not a guilt trip by any stretch of the imagination. But there are emergencies out there that are played out day after day after day. It's not just the stuff that hits the papers or the six o'clock news.
Let's stand with our sisters and brothers who face these emergencies, so they know they aren't alone.
1 comment:
Wow!! I held a still born baby in my hands the other night. (wrapped in cloth - but I could feel its limp form through the cloth - its little head and limbs)It was the first time I think I have held an infant.NOT a joyous occasion of community... Upstairs in Maternity a family were handing out donuts to every one and happy about a new addition to the family. A joyous sense of community and family spilling out everywhere... While this was going on, hidden away in a room below somewhere, someone was greiving the fact that the new life they hoped for had been dead inside them. That really hit me pretty hard. But who knew of this intense grief? No one but a very small and closely guarded circle of people Theres alot of emergencies playing out indeed. Alot of things are hidden from our sight.
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