April 22, 2007

     This past week the people of the East Coast experienced catastrophe of monumental proportion.  On a less tragic, yet equally serious scale, we all went through the nor’easter that brought snow, wind, and flooding in many areas, New Hampshire not being exempt from disaster.  On a more tragic scale, we were all privy to the massacre that happened on the campus of the Virginia Tech College.  In both situations we felt the pain of those directly affected and were forced to react in one way or other.

    There seemed to be two choices for people in both incidents.  The first was the choice of choosing Life.  Many chose this path.  In the case of the nor’easter, there were many hundreds of victims caught in wash out conditions, some left stranded in or out of their homes, some left without electricity for hours even days.  Many were left with no ability to communicate with their families and neighbors or even important emergency personnel.  The phone lines went down and the internet was not working.  The option for choosing Life lay in the hearts of the people who rolled up their sleeves and chose to help their family, friends, neighbors, even strangers.  They chose not to blame but to help others in need.  They chose to live and to give Life.

    Others chose the dark path.  Rather than help their neighbors and friends, they chose to criticize anyone and everyone they could think of, the police, the towns, the electric companies, and on and on.  This group of people chose to use their energy in a negative non-life giving manner.  Of course, it is normal to blame someone for our misfortune but once we have relieved ourselves of our frustration and anger, the next stage would be to choose life.  How many of us chose life?

     Choosing life helps everyone around us including ourselves.  We feel invigorated for having spent good, positive energy helping someone out and we find that the time goes by much faster, even if we are not able to take a shower at the end of the day.

    The same was true for the experience on the Virginia Tech campus.  Many people chose Life by giving their support to the students and the victims’ families.  Others chose death by spending their energies criticizing everyone for mishandling the situation, a situation that could probably not have been handled any differently, perhaps no one will ever know.

    As an Easter people, having passed over from slavery to freedom, how did we react to the tragedies of the past week.  Did we search our hearts for ways to help, to understand the pain and discomfort of others or did we choose to complain and to blame?  Perhaps, most of us did both.  This is a good beginning. The story and events of Easter are given to us for growth on a journey. Hopefully we will not have to relive such a week but if we do, we will be more conscious of our behavior and our thoughts the next time.  We are now better prepared to react and act with Life giving energy. 

                            Lorette P. Nault