And My Heart Aches

Syria. There's been a lot of talk about it recently: A lot of questions and opinions stored away and sometimes too freely given. I first heard about Syria a little over a year ago from my sister Tammy (who is much more informed and involved than I am - honestly, she should be writing this post). Back then the people in Syria were dying, children were dying, and it was as if no one was listening. Sadly, things have only changed for the worse since then. In my mind, I keep hearing the song that John Adams sings in the musical 1776 - "Is anybody there? Does anybody care? Does anybody see what I see?"

Yes, we are here. Yes, we see what is going on. Yes, we care....but we are scared and we don't know what to do.

 I'm not saying this is an easy decision -cause it's not. In many ways, it is likely a lose-lose kind of battle. I'm not saying it's the United States job to go in and fix everything, but I am saying that the world should care. I believe in our unified humanity and is not the cause of humanity worth standing up together as a worldwide civilization and saying, "Hey, we won't stand for this"? And yet, it is so much trickier than that. I realize I don't know all the facts, nor all the consequences. I'm a humanities major who lived in the Provo bubble without news for way too long. I'm a "feeler" and thus my emotions probably too often sway my logic. But right now, I sense a lot of fear - fear about political sway, fear about unwanted outcomes, fear about stepping on others' toes, etc.  I don't want to go to war, but my heart aches for these people and their suffering.

Yet what can I do? My own country's hands are tied in trying to figure out what to do, so how can I expect to make any kind of a difference? Prayer -That's all I have. But what do you pray for when hundreds of innocent people are dying like this? Deliverance. Deliverance from suffering, pain, etc. What if death is the only deliverance happening? It's all so hard.

My sister says that sometimes all we can do is bear witness to one another's pain. The "I recognize that you are suffering and I am so so sorry." It's the tears shed for the pain of another. It's the comfort that someone out there does care. Is that enough? Perhaps not, but it's something.