March Madness has taken over my house. It’s during times of sports foolishness mania that I feel the testosterone displacing what little estrogen rules this roost. The boys are watching the DVRed Wisconsin-Kansas State game (that started waaayyyy past bedtime last night) while I was reading the paper. A week after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, I was reading about the after effects, swelling with emotion at the thought of all the pain and suffering and plain overwhelming sense of helplessness paired with hopelessness. The horror of stories of missing family members are paled ever so slightly with tales of found friends and news of sons evacuated to a distant school gym.
Meanwhile I sit here in my cozy house with the nuisance of burned out light bulbs, an obnoxiously large TV blaring basketball, a warm breakfast in the oven, coffee poured, children nestled in Snuggies, slipper socks warming my feet, and a laptop connected wirelessly to inform and entertain me. The biggest pain in my arse today are the immense dust bunnies overtaking my house thanks to a shedding dog. I have a whole host of things to complain about, but none of it is important because muddy footprints leading from the patio to the playroom can be scrubbed and client billing will get done, even if in the wee hours of the night.
I started reading snippets of the news from Japan to my family, reporting about the millions of people without clean water, electricity, medicine, food. My heart hurts thinking about the rawness of life there while I sit on my spoiled perch. As I recounted bits and pieces of the news coming from Japan, my family stared at the TV, worried about the Badgers overtaking the Wildcats, mmhmming and uh-huhing all the while. It was not without more than mild irritation that I took to my keyboard. The talking heads on TV wax about unanswered prayers and underdogs. I’m pretty sure the women searching for their husbands in the wreckage are the ones with unanswered prayers. It’s hard to delight in basketball Cinderella stories while our fellow men and women in Japan are suffering so. Perspective, people.
My family is not generally callous and insensitive, and I don’t think their reaction necessarily points to that. But somehow I interpret it as such because I can’t help but keenly feel everyone’s pain and dammit I can’t do anything to help and I am so overwhelmed with gratitude for my life and its upper middle class trappings and gee, what if something catastrophic happened here, what the hell would we do and who would help and would people care or would they go about their daily lives worrying about spring hemlines and weeds in the yard or would their hearts skip a beat to dance in tune with mine and how would I protect my boys while comforting them in times of unrest while our lives literally shattered beneath us?
How can Earth wreak its havoc across the world while I bask in the sunshine and plant flowers in pots on my stoop? How can we be in the midst of a drought (again) while Neptune has raged his surf in unspeakable ways? How can I carry on with equal parts of reverence, compassion, and gratitude without seeming apathetic and untouched?
It’s clear that I am easily crippled.
In other news…
Bird and Deal hosted a Lemon Aid stand yesterday to raise money for the Red Cross to help Japan. It was all their idea. We sold chocolate chip cookies and lemonade to a slew of neighbors and Twitter friends who drove from all over the county to support them. Today the boys will each write a note to the Red Cross and send a $200.00 donation. Little boys can sure make a big difference.
I hear ya. March Madness smadness, I say! I think everyone needs a little outlet to remember the good in life. Sure. BUT, sometimes I think that little outlet ends up outweighing the realities and as such, it no longer becomes the little outlet but rather, becomes the distraction. That’s where I draw the line. Focus on what’s important. Enjoy what is to be enjoyed but DON’T let it overshadow that which is important.
Thank you for hosting that lemonade stand. It was my pleasure to drive all the way from Garner for a brief reprieve and support the cause. Congrats to the amount raised too. That’s pretty darn impressive! For that I say, “Go Team Ewen!” That I will gladly cheer for. 🙂
SWEET! I’m so glad they raised so much money!!! That’s awesome! Tell them their friends from North Raleigh send high-fives and lots of “good job guys”!!! 🙂
I’m pleased to say your boys weren’t alone. I stopped at a similar stand in Holly Springs on Saturday. Behold the power of the young (and young at heart).