whatever it takes

moving on and starting anew is always, always easier said than done. it takes a long time to heal, it takes an even longer time to find new purpose.

how do you find purpose when the mud-washed walls of your home no longer give you the sense of protection and security it used to? where do you find purpose in an over-crowded evacuation center where all your children breathe in disease and hunger day in, day out? how do you find purpose living on the alms of other people, depending on the values of other people to get you through each day? how do you find purpose when another tragedy is within arm's reach and you're still knee-deep in the mud of tragedy?

you sit there in front of your TV, watching these people starve, fight over relief goods, cry over and over again, plead for help and mercy and you feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility to help your fellowmen. you listen to endless stories of loss and pain and you feel the need to ease them of their suffering. but all of their pain is just too immense for you. you're not sure you can make a difference. you think that a lot of people are volunteering each day, that they probably won't need you. so you go back to sitting in front of the TV and allow the emotions to stir your insides but never enough to move you to move lives.

find purpose in the fact that you are still alive, that you can live for those who have died. you cannot bring them back to life but you can live to make their deaths worthwhile. find purpose in the people around you, who are giving their all in this battle of survival because they deserve to live and so do you. find purpose in every new life that is born each day. they may not be the same people you have lost but they will grow to be other people, people who may be able to save the rest of the world if need calls for it. find purpose in the supplies and donations that keep coming. the whole world is helping you to stand up again, but we need you to find the strength to stand on your own.

we need all the help we can get. we would always need another helping hand. don't doubt what you can and can't do. there's always another better thing to do that sit in front of the TV and watch the whole world pass you by.

as a new trial makes it way here, let us hold on tighter to each other. the rains will come, thunder and lightning may cross the sky and it will be very hard for all of us again, but we must all believe in the new dawn that will come.

(picture courtesy of flicker.com)

delicious ambiguity.