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 The past week has added to our accumulative storehouse of days of infamy: Pearl Harbor, the deaths of the World Wars, the terrible toll of the Korean War, the assassinations of President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King,Jr, the Vietnam War, the Challenger Disaster. To those, we all add the personal catastrophes: the death of a parent, the loss of a child, the fire that destroyed a beloved house,the illness that changes mobility, confidence, abilities.
With all these changes come the destruction of a sense of safety. We suffer and we are sad. To all of the remembered, accumulated pain of our pasts, we have had to add this week the four plane crashes, the World Trade Center's deliberate ruin, the burning wound in the Pentagon, the deaths of all those people. Even if we have not suffered personal loss this week, we have all had dreadful images added to our memories and we have had an experience of stress and shock. We have worried about people we know, seen the unimaginable distress of people looking for lost relatives, watched repeated images of disaster. In the pictures of the beautiful, sleek airplanes crashing into the buildings we can't help but feel a change in attitude toward flying, toward tall buildings, toward airports, toward the safety of the world in which we used to live. A vacation with our children, a family reunion, a tour of the Empire State Building? All have become stained with horror and fear. We need to recover as best we can, as we must recover from family losses and shared grief. Life, though scarred and difficult, must go on. Our lives may never be the same again. They never are, after such massive events, yet there are ways to steer ourselves confidently toward recovery, toward a better time. Medical research has shown that there are relationships between our emotional state and our physical health. Our bodies react to stress by triggering adrenaline, increasing our heart rates and blood pressure, our "flight or fight" response. We are prepared by nature to run for our lives, and to fight for survival. This week, too many of our friends and neighbors in cities in the East Coast had to do just that. Most of the rest of us watched it happen on television, but our bodies reacted instinctively to prepare us to respond in similar ways. I've heard more than one person say that they felt sick this week. This is a real physical reaction. Many symptoms can crop up as a result of stress, including headaches, backaches, stomach aches, hives, difficulty sleeping. To counteract some of the effects of stress, it is important to follow a program of self care, and since so many people are involved, we need to care for others around us too. Here are some suggestions: - Get sufficient exercise. A good run is the reaction that your body is looking for. A brisk walk can also do the trick. Exercise is one of the most potent ways to counteract the negative aspects of physical and emotional stress. - Eat a healthy diet. Fuel your recovery with healthy food. Eat moderately. - Get enough rest. Stress can interrupt sleep. Even if sleep is difficult, the body and mind need some time to regenerate. - Remember to see a doctor, if any symptoms need medical attention. - Practice relaxation techniques or meditation, which have been shown to provide physical benefits as well as bringing mental comfort in stressful situations. Pay particular attention to your breathing. If you find you are breathing shallowly, or holding your breath, bring your breathing back to a simple, pattern of normal inhalation, then a calming, somewhat longer and slower exhalation out. - Avoid caffeine and alcohol, which affect your emotional and physical state, and can affect your sleep patterns. - Limit your time in front of the news, television, web news, or radio. An older relative said that the experience of Pearl Harbor was entirely different, because the news came on in the evening, and then stopped until the next day. These days the news media is unrelenting. Find some time to be quiet. We need time to reflect on what we have heard and seen. - Be aware of your physical surroundings. If you see situations that can present a real danger to yourself or others, alert the appropriate people and avoid the area. Especially in the wake of the events of this week, we need to not only focus on the things such as a suspicious vehicle or package which are on everyone's mind this week, but also on the more mundane wet floors, broken glass, automobiles, faulty machinery or mishandled chemicals. Everyone is distracted, sleep deprived and on edge, and accidents can often be avoided if we remain mindful of the environment we are working in. - Consider stopping or reducing the number of cigarettes that you smoke. The effort may distract you from external events and will ultimately result in better health. - If you find yourself getting irritated at someone, step back and understand that we know that responsibility for the vast sorrowful experiences of the week lies elsewhere. - Be kind to your friends and neighbors. Talk human being to human being. Be willing to express your feelings to family, friends and those who offer support. When you find yourself thinking "I feel awful" imagine "He feels awful" or "She feels awful" and think of what you might do to make the other person feel better. If you can find a positive action to take to help someone else, you may find ultimately that you feel stronger and less stressed. - Take pleasure and pride in doing actions that are constructive and beautiful. I'll place my bet on human creativity and compassion to win over human destruction and ugliness every time. Pete Seeger's banjo has written around its rim, "this instrument surrounds hate and forces it to surrender!" Be sure to attend candlelight vigils in support of the families and the rescue workers and raise your voice in song as in this 19th Century Shaker Hymn: How can I keep from singing?
We have been hurt by the actions of terrorists. We need to foil their attempts to harm us further by doing all we can to to maintain our strength of mind, body, and spirit. We are all stronger than we know. |
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