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Gordon's avatar

How much can we care? My personal perspective is that my resources - time, money, attention, and even caring - are limited. I live in Ecuador where we are coming up on the 7th anniversary of a 7.8 earthquake along the coast. I remember helping to gather donation of bottled water, food, etc., to send to the affected areas, but more specifically, I recall a family that was living in that area that arrived here in Cuenca with all their possessions and merchandise that they were able to salvage from the rubble that had been their shop. I helped them find a place to live and get established again, and we are still friends.

It seems to me that if we are willing to help, there are always people nearby who are in need, if we are willing. I honor those who go to great lengths to help out in disasters far away, but personally I try to be aware of those around me in need, and what I can do to help them.

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Darrell P Baker's avatar

"Was everyone else just callous? Or was I being over sensitive?"

Life goes on for those unaffected by tragedy, but emotions can be triggered by a realization and reflection on the scope of a tragedy. The lack of emotion or their lack of a display of caring doesn't make one callous, nor does experiencing an intellectually emotional response mean one is overly sensitive or oversensitive. It is human by nature.

As for "burning out", in essence becoming desensitized, is the by-product of an overload of intellectual and non-intellectual data being played to our emotions. It's how humans take a break from tragic reality.

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