I’ll admit it. I’ve been counting down the days until this year’s Winter Solstice.
As the sun sets around 4:20 each afternoon, and darkness envelops the windows of NICABM, I find myself longing for more hours of daylight.
Is it any wonder, then, that images of light and dark play such a prominent role in so many winter holiday celebrations?
The celebration of Hanukkah commemorates the miraculous supply of oil that kept lights burning for eight days following the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem. The Christian tradition celebrates light coming into the world in the form of a child.
Yet the genesis of each of these celebrations took place against the backdrop of unspeakable darkness.
Hanukkah celebrates the restoration of religious liberty after King Antiochus Epiphanes outlawed Jewish religious practice and desecrated the temple in Jerusalem.
Wise men followed a star to find a prophetic child after his parents fled to Egypt during King Herod’s Slaughter of the Innocents.
Whether or not you subscribe to either of these traditions, it’s hard to escape the reality that this year’s celebrations will also occur against the backdrop of nearly unspeakable darkness in this world.
My heart grows heavy as news continues to roll in about shattered truces and trapped refugees in the City of Aleppo.
What can be done?
Earlier this year, the NICABM team met with Cheryl Anderson from Save the Children to hear about their work in caring for refugees. Save the Children has staff on the ground in Syria, and around the world, providing food, shelter, and health services to overwhelming refugee populations.
As painful as it was to hear some of the stories, I still recall what Cheryl said:
I don’t have the answers, but I always have hope.
She told us a story about an old man who walked along a beach littered with starfish that had washed ashore. Because the sun was up and the tide was going out, the old man picked up starfish, one by one, and gently tossed them back into the sea.
Seeing this, a young man questioned why the old man bothered trying to save the starfish when there were so many, and he couldn’t possibly save them all. What difference could his efforts possibly make?
As the old man tossed another starfish into the ocean, he said, “It made a difference to that one.”
It can be easy to become overwhelmed by the magnitude of suffering in the world. But as Cheryl said, there is always hope.
Supporting the work of charitable organizations, including Save the Children, has always been a priority of NICABM. We value the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of refugees, or to build classrooms in places like Kenya, and in Pakistan, where educational opportunities are so limited.
I’ll have more to say about this soon. But in the meantime, I want to wish you the very best during this season of celebration, and in the year to come.
Now I’d like to hear from you. Where in the world would you like to see a brighter light shining? To call attention to the need, and invite others to join in making a difference?
Please leave a comment below.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts of celebration for this season which fosters hope and peace. I especially appreciate your inclusiveness of different religious traditions. Having been a college Chaplain/teacher and now, in retirement, serving as a volunteer supporting the military Chaplain of a local unit where the active duty Chaplain cannot often be present, I understand the need to recognize the spectrum of religious traditions. My focus is to listen and care rather than to judge the presence or absence of faith. I am grateful to have learned so much from your work.
The charitable consciousness of the NICABM is certainly to be admired as well as to be a participant in shining light into dark places in the world.
May you enjoy a wonderful holiday season and be blessed with a rewarding New Year.
Thank you for this reminder to spread light and hope inmidst of all the ongoing darkness, to one person and then another. We cannot save the world but keep the torch of love shining.
Amazing Article…I am a child’s rights advices,.,I wrote a pen from a child’s perspective …All children gave the right to live in safety…all over the world…physical emotional psychological and sexual. Kids particularly girls one in Thre. Thats1/ 3 Divide that intoworkd population iand get that magical number…yes unreal how many girl live in fear and terror every day..same symptoms of PTSD just different flashbacks as vets…affects functioning!
On another note, I believe the world has collective ptsd…cycle of intergeneratioll violence in the home and acted out in the world is a result of rage..which us fear based… fear of what exactly?
What I hope is you can email me so I can send you this poem I wrote. I hope you can tweet it out this Christmas…my duster lasses over and we worked tirelessly together to improve safety and listen to troubled kids. United Nations needs to hear thus…I understand threat to human life supersedes in priority a global response. However collectively over time, sexual abuse sets away at the fabric of a vibrant person to a frozen person living in fear. This affects all relationships on the continuum of life…exponentially damaging everyone…thanks..Muriel D’Arcy Read.( Whole person wellness consultant)
Thank you, Ruth. Thank you all the beautiful souls who have left a comment. May we all rise together.
Thanks, Ruth!
You choose to be present and to help re-kindle Lady Liberty’s flickering light.
Fiat lux!
My own sense is that it is an opportunity when there is so much darkness to rediscover what we value and where we put our energy
Do we value one another, nature, generosity? Then shine a light on these and give up the habits of sleepwalking like compulsive buying and focusing on appearances.
The light of hope and renewal is in the foundation of our hearts and our hearts as the seat of actions.
Thank you Ruth…it is a good reminder to hold onto hope in the midst of such darkness. Someone in an earlier post mentioned Standing Rock, I think that this victory brings hope because we have started to realize we can stand together against social injustice and win. We no longer have leaders to look for salvation from…we must look to what each of us can do with the light that is in us…it is time for the people to stand together again to bring about hope.
Yes, it is overwhelming the amount of suffering that “intelligent humans” can bring to mother earth and all it’s inhabitants.
And the best gift we can give to all the victims is MEDITATION. I am particular to the MAHA MANTRA,
but there are Buddhist, Christian and Sufi mantras as well. After chanting long enough, we come to
the conclusion that we are a spark of the Supreme, THE ETERNAL WISDOM.
Thank you,Ruth. It is not possible to share this message of hope too often!
We all need it, especially as we seek to be present to those who are suffering…
I feel terribly sad about what is happening in Aleppo and also helpless to do anything about it. I am troubled that our country seems to be doing nothing to prevent this genocide. I know it is complicated and political and there are undoubtedly many things I do not know and don’t understand, but these are vulnerable and precious human beings who are being destroyed while we sit and watch it on the nightly news. And then we go on our way . .. feeling saddened perhaps, but not really doing anything much about it. We have empathy . . . but not compassion . .. if compassion means taking action to reduce suffering. How do we make a difference? I think we are going to look back on this with shame.
I would like to help all the people who have to suffer from atrocities (like abuses), natural catastrophies and war and from restrictions to their lives (restrictions on water, on land, on farming their produce with their own seeds etc.). And I would like to help educate all those, who have difficult access as well (poor, challenged, difficult circumstances, all genders etc.). I would like to grant a life in dignity to the ill, disabled and elder as well as to the young and middle-aged. I would like the earth to be as just place for all live, including animals and plants. I would like to protect the water and the rainforest. I would like to support sustainable projects. I would like to help couples love eachother and families establish fair communication processes with all members participating. I want to contribute my responsible share, where I can and how I can.
My darkness is this new administration and the doom of climate change…..we are now heading down a road of no return and frankly, I am not present to hope. Glad you folks are. The Koch brothers now @ the helm, brace yourselves…..
I feel the same way nancy. All best <3
I cannot say that I read every comment. I do think it is kind of weird that there is nothing about Trump. Sorry, am I being political? Is that somehow taboo?
I
It is saddening as we see the events around the world.
Through it all my eyes are on the One who gives us hope in the darkest of situations. Its this hope that I carry into the clinic with me each time i have a session.
In my little corner, i make every effort to make a difference in the lives of hurting wounded people. In a variety of ways i try to introduce Him, whenever He offers an opportunity!
It occurred to me this morning, as I read a post about Standing Rock, that the victory there came on the heels of Trump’s election and the feelings that has stirred up in so many people. Even though many despair at the corporate entrenchment that appears to be developing, in the midst of all of it is this push back against the corporate oil interests, to say nothing of the unity amongst so many peoples that came about because of the efforts. There is hope.
Thanks so much for making this connection between the personal healing to which you are dedicated and the unspeakable pain of the world at this moment, Ruth. I have been begging the other sites I check regularly for spiritual and psychological inspiration to do the same. I love the phrase of (unfortunately deceased) Bill Readings “our unknowable obligations to others.” Thanks for this. Sincerely, Barbara
Bless your heart Ruth! A heart filled with love & care for others! 🙂
There is an organization that I have given to, it’s called ironically…HAND OF HOPE! It is a Christian org, that recuses woman & children from Sex Trafficking and the horrors that go along with it.
I love it when people come together in the spirit of…Each One Help One! We can all Make A Kind Difference in the world somewhere, somehow!
When you walk to the edge of all the LIGHT you have know, and take a step into the DARKNESS of the unknown, you have to believe that 1 of 2 things will happen. Either you will step onto something sturdy to walk upon, or you will be taught how to fly. Author unknown
I can become easily overwhelmed by the breadth of atrocities all over the world and throughout history.
My grandparents were murdered in the holocaust despite being secular and assimilated and prominent citizens of Prague.
So beside donating money to various causes, I attend to these ‘little holocausts’ on the home front in USA, helping adult survivors of childhood trauma heal, session after session, for many long years. As Ferenczi, a contemporary of Freud who was spurned for trying to move analysis into a mothering mode of kindness, patience and nurturance vs. patriarchal coldness and detachment practiced by many traditional analysts, I greet each individual patient with a warm hello and smile and am as engaged and fascinated with each individual 15 years into seeing them as I was the first day. I help them marinate in an attuned and compassionate relationship that deeply respects them as people, not cases.
This is my tiny contribution to this enormous global wound; mothering the inner children of my suffering adults. Watching them slowly, achingly grow and heal is a great gift to me in return!
Join the Womens March on Washington! coming up soon, 20 January 2017.
Contribute to Planned Parenthood…..your time or money.
Support International Rescue Service and other agencies who help in finding refuge for those in war torn lands.
Get out and take action!!!
Starting right here in America and continuing around the world. Let us celebrate the family, Father, Mother, and children. Let us model our family after the Holy One. Most importantly, including God in its every detail, every moment.
Standing Rock and all Indigenous People, that they have their Sovereign Rights honored and that we as a Nation stop all the corruption in our government. To call attention to WE THE PEOPLE have RIGHTS and will be heard across our US. Thank You for asking.
Dr. King also said on April 3, 1968……..”We’ve got some difficult days ahead”……such a poignant comment for these times……..NAMASTE and Happy Holidays !
She courageously stepped out of the darkness and in to the light
I recently “walked beside someone” who went from wanting and praying for death to wanting to live. His circumstances didn’t change much. But his mind and his heart did. May we all extend to those in darkness God’s promise of hope and love for all.
I Am the Founder and Director of an Non-profit Organization Called Sendas. I have been working to help abused women and children get therapy after sexual and domestic abuse.
El Salvador has the highest rates of social violence, domestic violence, adolescent pregnancies, and there are few places where women and children who suffer can find a place to heal.
So please consider your donations for El Salvador.
Four years ago my life was repurposed when Sandy Hook Elementary School was attacked by a force of unspeakable darkness just a few hundred yards from my office. A community of therapists helped me through and kept me going. My life has been repurposed again in the aftermath of November 8th when every value I hold dear has been undermined or explicitly attacked. I appreciate the opportunity to connect again with a community of therapists. Thank you for a ray of light. I am re dedicating myself to living my values. However, I want to work in common purpose with others to strengthen the beam of light.
The dear little faces of those children still haunts me. We will never forget them and the brave staff!
Greetings,
I would like to see a brighter light shining on the hearts of all the people in the world. A light that shines so bright it doesn’t allow anyone to see our perceived “wrongs”. A brighter light that only reflects the good in all of us. When we are in one accord may the brighter light of our hearts bring fourth the love that is there to be shared from one person to the next person; healing, restoring, forgiving and just love.
Be the love you want to see in the world
Thank you Ruth, I have always said and believed in leaving a mark in this world. This is through touching a heart of one suffering child from a most at risk family in the community. Kudos Sister Ruth, we are walking same journey. Kindly visit our website http//:www.kimowellnessfoundation.org to view some of our community support activities. We are looking forward to partner with like minded organizations, individuals and professionals to relieve human suffering, different ways. Thank your
Regards, Nelly
I was in court today and was very moved by the female judge. Every person who was on trial was suffering from drug or alcohol addiction, a recent loss of a friend or a family member or abuse.
This judge spoke directly to the person, acknowledging their suffering, and somehow thru her words and body language, communicated a sense of respect for the person and hope for their future. I left feeling compassion for all beings…
thank you for your message, Judith. I wish you and your family the same..
I believe that along with holding hope, we as clinicians will be called upon to become more publiciy active as part of the response to the darkness that is around us. We must organize ourselves to provide support and protection by making our voices heard for anyone especially children that will be classified and treated as “other”.
I would like to see the poverty in Brazil eradicated
I spent much time there as a child with my maternal family of swiss extraction living in relative wealth in Porto Alegre and Rio. I hated the fact that they had maids and cooks and they lived so comfortably and would speak up against it at 8 years old. They would explain it as providing good jobs for ‘those people’ and were very kind to their hired help but still…the injustice of it!
Bless Brazil, a beautiful country
Dear Ruth Buczynski,
Thanks you for the `hope’.It is `the’ magic word.I guess we not only have hope but also actively train ourselves to face the coming realities of this world,which seems to be at odds with itself.Each one of us will have to stand-up to be counted for the cause of humanity, human dignity and human values in an all encompassing manner.
Peace and goodwill be to you and all of us.
Thanks.
Ruth, thank you for reminding us of history and also sharing the the starfish story. May each of us live as the old man lived.
May joy be experienced within you each day! … I do not want to limit this wish to only the holidays!
Save the Children was shining a light on the horrors of sexual assault around the globe 30 years ago at this time. I received a teddy bear wearing a “Save the Children” button as a holiday gift purchased from their charity. It reminds me of the strength and resilience in fighting to keep hope alive each time a new season of darkness descends.
As painful as it is to hear about the dark horrors humans can create in the world; it is powerful to hear stories that prove the strength of the human spirit to find its inner light in the face of them. That is where hope lives and thrives, in facing down the horrors.
Thank you Ruth, for reawakening this memory.
Hi ruth. I would like to see the light shining more at home in America. As Obama said to his daughters after the Democrats lost the election, to treat everyone with kindness and respect and understanding. To know that there may always be bigotry in other people but to watch out for it in ourselves. That would be my greatest Christmas hope.
Thank you for all you do all around the world all year long.
I would like to see the light shine brighter in our own country as we mend political fences, treat each other with respect, compassion, kindness and forgiveness. I believe there is always hope, but the unknown is always unnerving and worrisome. And our world is full of sorrow and suffering. The only thing that I know for certain is that if one person tries to act with compassion and kindness our future will be one of hope. Maybe that should be our mantra for 2017, Compassion and Kindness begins with each of us.
Thank you for this reminder, Ruth.
I will like to see light shine to over 2million displaced people in the north eastern part of Nigeria occasioned by Boko Haram insurgency.
Thank you for these words of hope Ruth. They are light.
May each of us shine he light we have, remembering
That this light gives hope to those around us who are
suffering.
Thank you, Ruth, for all the good you are and all the good you are doing on this planet as you shine your light on some of the dark corners where it is most needed. I would love to see a brighter light shining on the struggles of the Standing Rock Water Protectors. This is one of the turning points.
Dear Ruth Buczynski,
I have tried severally to reach out to you and have even sent emails but never got a reply.
Maji Peterx
(Nigeria)
Maji, I’m in Nigeria too. Send me an email. I’m trying to build a coalition here. My email ad is akindema@gmail.com.
Thank you Ruth. I will remember that though I don’t have the answers, I have hope.
I know that many persons are opposed to spiritual light being shun around the world, however it is important to make a thorough search of one’s own heart to examine the holy books. There are several that are considered sacred by the various traditions of Christianity as well as other groups who give adoration and praise to their Gods. However, my suggestion is that all these various groups show genuine love for people. That action would help people to be more humane to others who do not share their beliefs and practices.
Thank you for the reminder Ruth. I work on shining my light and energy out into the world, and I do believe it makes a difference. There is always hope.
Thank you Ruth. I needed this reminder. I myself and feeling hopeless and I know that so many of my clients are filled with fear and lack hope. Yes, the reason for the season is light. That is the one hope we can all have that light is within us all. I will use the Solstice as a reminder that things are changing and with that change comes more light, love and hope. Blessing to you for all that you do.
After what happened last night in Berlin, just one bad new of the infinite series, it’s so hard to hope… Thanks, Ruth, for your message, it makes me feel as a part of community, little bit of light
The plight of the Syrians is a terrible and inhumane situation. Relief and safety must be immediately provided for these people.
Thank you for your sensitivity to mention the Christ child bringing light to the world at this time of year. Appreciated
This is a good time to drive out the darkness in one’s own heart.
Ruth — thanks so much for this message. This is such a difficult time in the world. I think many of us feel stuck and terribly worried.
Trish — I did some Googling around — Save the Children is a secular organization and appears to have an excellent reputation overall.
(There’s a similarly named org called Feed the Children that is a Christian organization — unfortunately, it also has very poor ratings for the percentage of donations that are used for their programs.)
Is Save the Children affiliated with any particular religion?
Hi Trish,
Rather than reply to your question directly, we reached out to Cheryl for her response. This is her reply:
Save the Children invests in childhood – every day, in times of crisis and for our future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm.
We are a global child-focused, independent and secular, development organization. We have no membership or affiliation to any political party or religion.
As you may know, we are currently responding with aid in areas where families are being taken and are ready to support thousands more, with food, medical care and protection once they’re finally evacuated from Aleppo. Here’s the link to more information.