Posted by Mair on September 25, 2001, at 18:29:46
In reply to Terror's emotional effects, posted by Noa on September 25, 2001, at 17:39:27
> I'm glad you started this thread. I don't live in or near NYC and know virtually no one who lives there. Thus it's been hard to feel connected with this in a way that I think I should. For days (and still), I've been riveted to the news, both TV and newspapers, drawn to every personal story in particular I think in an attempt to connect myself to their suffering in a more personal way. Exposing yourself to all of this gets overwelming after awhile and it makes me feel very powerless - powerless to help, powerless to even begin to comprehend to scale of human suffering, and frankly guilty that my life trudges on pretty much as it did before. I'm not comfortable with all the chest pumping and while not unpatriotic, I'm not a big flag waver either, so I can't seem to share in the aura of love and unity. Mostly I just feel unsettled, anxious and generally uncomfortable with my own emotional response (or lack thereof). I'm pretty pessimistic about our ability to recover economically and about our ability to wage a successful campaign against terrorism without managing to alienate most of the arab world. I'm also starting to worry about the effect of this on all the people who aren't recognized as victims but are victims nonetheless. This includes all of the laid off airline workers, the unfairly persecuted muslims and includes all of those people who have been assisted in the past by charities whose traditional funding sources might now divert their giving to this tragedy. We're all stretched pretty thin. It's as if all of the other problems of this country have disappeared because everyone's so preoccupied, but really those problems are still there. Who's now going to notice?
Mair
poster:Mair
thread:11763
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010915/msgs/11765.html