Helplessness is one of the worst feelings in the world. Certainly one of my most hated. We feel ‘helpless’ in the face of tragedy, anguish, tears and pain when we cannot make the situation right again, when we are unable to restore the world to its previous (and preferable) status quo.

Even in such situations, despite ourselves, we are not helpless. We can love and support, we can pick up the slack, we can lend resources and give of our time. We can bear witness to the reality in front of us. Never underestimate the value and effect of being present; compassionate,unflinching,without judgement, to the journey of another human being.

The discomfort of helplessness is not a direct result of the situation we face. The discomfort of ‘helplessness’ comes from our judgement that the ways available to us to serve ‘aren’t enough’.

Helplessness is the territory between what you can do and what you wish you could do.

Tags: Challenge, Doing good, Emotions, Friendship, Observations

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 9:18 am and is filed under Grace, Life, Relationships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.