writer's block

I haven't posted in a while. I have had a very bad case of writer's block. It wasn't that I didn't have anything to say -- that's just never the case for me.  It was that I had too much to say and couldn't properly filter out my thoughts!

The past few weeks of following the U.S. debt crisis in juxtaposition with the horrible tragedy of drought and famine in the Horn of Africa just caused my brain circuitry to melt. Every time I turned on the news and the lead story was the Dow Jones Industrial Average and not the story of starvation in Africa, I became less able to make sense of human nature.

Don't get me wrong: I do understand the seriousness of our economic situation right now. I am a member of the demographic known as the "the sandwich generation." I have an ailing mother in assisted living that she barely afford; I am about to send my 18 year-old off to college -- a college that we can afford only because of a generous scholarship from the university; My husband and I are in our mid-50's and have watched in horror as the statements for our 401k plans became awash in a sea of red ink. So I do get it.

I also get this: that while I may be having a slightly bumpy ride financially right now, my life is very good. I have a cozy home in a suburb in New Jersey. We both have jobs. We have two cars that we use to take us to those jobs and also to Costco, and to the pizza parlor on Saturday's and to church on Sunday. We can help my mom with her pharmacy bills and with sundries; and we can send our son to college. We are in good health. And most important of all -- we have each other. We have extended family and we have a network of friends, acquaintances and colleagues. We are blessed and we are grateful. Cranky sometimes, but always grateful.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is this: there are real people both here in the United States and elsewhere in the world who are really struggling just to stay alive. And those of us who have the luxury of complaining about temporary losses in the stocks and bonds in which we've invested need to get a grip and put things in perspective. There are millions of people who would be happy to have our "problems."

I hope my "scolding" doesn't offend you. I just had to get this rant off my chest so I could get on with it!
Thanks for letting me unburden myself! And by all means -- feel free to reply with a comment.

And now, I hope you will take a moment to pray for clarity in your own life; for perspective, for patience, for forgiveness, for a spirit of generosity and love and for help if you need it. Whatever your faith tradition, please pray for guidance on how you, we, all of us -- can help ease the burdens of those who are truly suffering.

Let us join our thoughts and prayers and hearts' desires in asking God how we can best use our humanity and "an attitude of gratitude" to extend life-giving and life-saving compassion to those who are not as lucky as we are.

May God's peace be with you.