Countervailing Forces

The word of the day is countervail is a verb meaning to act against with equal force, power, or effect; to counteract.

I was at lunch the other day and CNN was on at the restaurant and a reporter was telling the story of a girl in Haiti.  The girl was trapped in a building that had collapsed during the earthquake and one of her legs was stuck underneath some building wreckage.  She was awake and coherent and aside from her leg and being stuck under what used to be a wall she was doing pretty well. A reporter was telling the story and he had to pause repeatedly throughout the report because you could hear the girl wailing in the background.  There were seven or eight men there trying to get her out of the building but they didn't have the right equipment and it looked like they were going to have to amputate her leg.

Sometimes those things really stick with me.  I think it happens to lots of people actually, and just like me they probably try not to bring it up.  Maybe I will be chatting with a friend and they say the word "leg" and I think of that girl crying and it mentally knocks the wind out of me for a second.  And my friend goes on talking about cellulite and I am thinking how to explain to a child that she only has one leg because there wasn't an available backhoe.  Then I just pull it back together like that reporter and make a comment about workout regimens.

According to Winston Churchill, "men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."  But that's not how I see it.  Sometimes your feelings are too raw and strong to deal with at that second and they have to be put on a shelf and saved for later.  You can't just keep them stored there forever or else they will leak out in random moments when someone mentions their leg fat but they can be dealt with at a later time.  Sometimes they should be dealt with later when there is enough yang to deal with the yin.

Something really incredible happened today: my sister got married.  And the wedding was perfect and incredible.  It was perfect not because the programs were the right color or the food was warm enough but because the room was full of this great feeling.  Jen and David obviously love each other but everyone loved them and enjoyed the food and danced, there was just a lot of good mojo.  [Cheese ball alert]  I couldn't help but think that the feeling everyone had in that room is the basis for our whole world.  Families, cities, and civilizations were built with the purpose of having that feeling as much as possible.

So now that I have the appropriate yang for the yin, I am making a donation to the Haiti effort because that is what I can do now.  And I am going to remember that girl and keep on doing what I can do.  I suggest you do a little of the same as soon as you are ready.

When we are faced with a particular sorrow
Or day that is marred by strife
Remember, countervailing happiness could happen tomorrow
Because that is the way of life.