heartbreaker

i recently read a los angeles times article alerting us to the fact that the baghdad morgue has released stats stating the iraqi casualties has now surpassed the 50,000 mark. and of course there are more that have died and just not been documented - few things are ever precise during war - meaning 50,000 is just another marker to be passed.

what could be worse? 25% of the 50,000+ were killed in "military clashes" - either they were shot by iraqi or american soldiers, or even more tragic, they were innocent bystanders - i got my calculator out for this one --> 25% = 12,500. 12,500 people, each of whom were unique creatures of the Holy One, had their lives taken away by misdirected bullets, bombs that missed their mark, and soldiers who were too hasty to act.

i'm not so arrogant as to think i'm the only one deeply grieved by this. by all of this - violence, misunderstanding, oppression, hegemony. living day-to-day in a city that harnesses so much of the nation's and further yet, the world's power, i grieve the lack of attention - the lack of remembrance - the lack of real change and positive action afforded to this egregious loss of human life.

my heart is so heavy, it's breaking...my mind is so full, that my thoughts overflow and i gush onto anyone around me willing to listen.

yes, God can mend this broken heart, even this broken world...but what's my part in all of this?

it's too easy to feel powerless and disconnected in these times - but we must resist! maggie kuhn believed that "power should not be concentrated in the hands of so few, and powerlessness in the hands of so many", and i agree. who says we don't have power? who says no one is listening? before delving into foucault's conceptions of power, we must believe that we are capable of affecting real change and then act on that belief.

sit with the pain and grief - cry, pray, sing out, even shout - and when you're done, or even in the midst of it all, "stand before the people you fear and speak your mind - even if your voice shakes. when you least expect it, someone may actually listen to what you have to say." - margaret kuhn