Kurotake, thank you so much for your compassion and sympathy. When we share our pain, the whole load gets lighter. Your post (very simply) highlights how this tragedy was of very human proportions, not of national or religious ones.
I know that I've made an impact in this group, simply with my .sig line "We're in this together."
I feel that the connections are much wider than just between people, in the same situation. I've been able to draw parallels between just about every major tragedy in my life, and they have all helped me to heal from other, less-related trials. My ordeals, are the same as your ordeals, and we should recognize that the goals of healing, don't change much, regardless of the challenge.
I had become quite the expert in grief, through more losses than I care to count right now. I had sought out counseling about 3 years ago, because of my cousin's suicide. And while my therapist and I talked about my parents, and their discipline, I got really defensive and had such a dramatic bout of anxiety at the end of the session, I was confused.
A few years later, I remembered that experience, as I attempted to draw together the clues of my abuse. And it contributed to my breakthrough.
While attempting to help a suicidal friend a few weeks back, I was confronted with the limits of my strength, and ability to help others. I had a very powerful insight from the movie "Fight Club" (check out that series of posts in the movie area). The importance of facing the truth, no matter how ugly it may be, came out of this.
That lesson helped me to deal with my best friend, still trudging through the death of her girlfriend. We discussed her issues, as well as mine.
As she questioned me about stuff, I delved into other areas, and I discovered another breakthrough regarding my abuse. But I didn't have much time to digest that, since I woke up to tragedy in NY, Washington, and Penn.
But over these very harrowing weeks, I've learned many lessons of humility, love, and strength.
Those serve as the basis of my current thoughts. I want to share those lessons with others. At least, to help you ask the questions to yourself, that will lead to your own healing.
Socrates once said (through Plato) that "The unexamined life is not worth living." My life feels very much worth living, and so I examine it, always seeking a deeper truth about myself, and to become a better person.
I hope that we will all see just how interconnected all these things are. Every life on earth is precious. How can we go about showing that? By doing whatever you can, to help your fellow man, woman or child.
I feel like I'm losing my focus now, so I'll end this letter now. It's been a long day.
We're in this together.
Jeremy
