I was reflecting back on childhood days, specifically when I (or my siblings) did not want to finish the food on our plates. My mom would always say, “Don’t waste food there are people in other parts of the world who are starving!” We would glibly say, “How about we send it to them” lacking any real empathy. Honestly, I had no concept of the poverty and suffering of so many people, which seems to have worsened exponentially in these times.
These past few years my eyes have opened to the unbelievable suffering of others due to poverty, war, corruption, and oppression that have caused millions to flee their homelands.
As I look back over the years, I am grateful for the many formative experiences I’ve had to help widen the lens through which I see. So many mentors along the way who have helped to reshape and influence my awareness and understanding in cultivating more compassion. My heart swells as I think back over my life and all the people who have helped to form me. I could write a long litany of people from my early family to you, my dear Journal of Sacred Work family and many, many others.
However, today I wish to share just a few, to include the Sisters of St Joseph and our Wisdom Circle, my years serving in a faith based organization, Pope Francis’ transformative knowing as expressed in the encyclical Laudato Si, and oddly enough, PBS news hour, NHK Japan, Democracy Now, Amanpour and Company, BBC News. As I transitioned away from the popular US news stations and began watching PBS news my world view expanded. Sometimes I wonder how can Amy Goodman can keep reporting on all the injustices in this world as it is hard to take in so much suffering in. Yet, for myself I don’t want to turn away, or turn a blind eye to the suffering of others and of all creation. I've learned that I can help starving people around the world with donations, I can change my habits to help the environment and I can be there for a vulnerable friend in her time of need.
What fuels my hope is all the brave souls in this world who are speaking out against the injustices and are even willing to risk their lives. There are so many people working to find solutions to our world problems as well as making a difference in the lives of others and as Mother Earth cries out cautioning us, pleading with us to awaken.
My awareness of being part of a global community was significantly heightened with the tragic start of the Ukraine war when I became keenly aware of how interdependent we all are on one another. We truly are one human family but how far we have drifted from this truth. Let me leave you with this inspired song to hearten your spirits as there is so much the light and goodness that will triumph over despair and darkness, for we are one family.
Liz Sorensen Wessel
Artwork by ~liz
