Tears

​It is totally understandable that it is happening, but I think I am noticing it like never before.  Tears.  From Ukrainians.  It sounds incredibly racist, but it seems that seeing tears from people that look like me has a greater impact.
 
Tears are often shed when natural disasters strike or in war between two warring sides. 
But this is different.  These are tears shed only because of one man’s lust for power.  There is total disbelief.  This was not supposed to happen.  As someone being interviewed said it would be like us going to the footy on Sunday and being at war on Monday.  Such events had been relegated to history.  Yet the more things change the more they stay the same.
 
I would love to write about happy things.  Yet it seems to be as I saw today a picture of some one saying “I’m tired of experiencing historically unprecedented events.”  No sooner is the worldwide corona virus seemingly under control, then the world’s attention is on what is happening in the Ukraine. 
 
There were only days to celebrate the newfound freedoms, then we learn things are going to get more expensive and life will be harder as a result of what is happening in Ukraine. 
It seems to me this is a time of sorrow.  It looks to me like our reaction is human nature and a good thing, but I cannot help but feel the times of celebrating without incident are getting fewer and farther between.  It seems to me people are soldiering on despite a worsening flu.
 
I know that tears are good for release.  My grief in the past has found expression in tears.  I have known there was no way out or ability to change what has happened.  Inevitability often leads to tears and having shed them I find the strength to go on.  It can be like I have no choice.  But I do.  My tears can be a lifeless lake or a life bringing river.  But they are never something to seek out for their own sake though.
 
Tears have always been shed and it seems to be the lot of humanity.  The difference to me seems to be that whole populations are being affected.   Often grief is a personal private matter.  These days though grief is being shared by people groups.
 
Even this rain event that has gripped south east Queensland is an experience being shared  by several million people.  The virus was world-wide.  I hear people quote that car accidents kill more people or that malaria has a higher death rate.  Those things may be true but to me they are mostly suffered by individuals and are a limited shared experience.  This is different.  Now though even if the experience is unwanted, the sharing is communal and others understand.
 
Seeing this only makes me wonder, what’s next?