For 2017: Love plus good thinking equal a better world
A few days ago I had an experience that I would like to share with you all. Particularly as it is the end of a troubled year and the beginning of a new one with very few good, positive forecasts. I promise that it will be a positive column and not one that will add to your tribulations!
I was visiting the state of Israel for a couple of weeks, and of course the news from different parts of the world were all very depressing. Aleppo in the news on a daily basis, settlements in Israel in lands in dispute, fear of terrorism all over Europe (this was pre-attack in Berlin). Even though the news media knows how to push our emotional buttons with photos of children orphaned by the war, there seems to be a disconnect between the media and our politicians who continue to wring their hands and do nothing to bring some sanity to the world. To say the least, being in the Middle East at this time in its history was interesting and poignant.
And then, as if we were not already on a news overload, one piece of news rocked Israel but I doubt it made it to the outside world. A father and son (10 or 12 years old) went on a hike and rock climbing. Like us in Taos and New Mexico in general, Israel has superb hiking places. The desert is spectacular in its beauty and its history. The Bedouins are the indigenous inhabitants (as they are in Jordan and other parts of the Middle East), and their presence goes back thousands of years (more about them in a little while). What should have been an enjoyable weekend activity ended up in a tragedy. The boy fell rock climbing, and the father in an effort to cushion his son’s fall, let himself go to try to stop his son from hitting the ground. The father died in the accident and the son, badly hurt, was taken to a hospital where he fought for his life for a couple of days. As all tragedies do, in split seconds a family’s life was turned upside down and nothing would be the same again for them.
Just as it happens here, there was no cell phone coverage, but a couple of park rangers saw the tragedy and rushed to help. The rangers were Bedouins (and Israeli citizens) and it broke your heart to see the desperation in their faces that they could not have done more. Nobody could have.
Of course, everybody wanted the boy to survive but within a couple of days, it was announced that he had died. And here comes the premise that love together with good thinking makes for a better world.
The grieving mother and wife announced on national TV that his son’s organs were donated to help save other children in need of organ transplants. Four children benefited, one of them an Arab child, and all the proceedings were done in Israeli hospitals by Israeli doctors.
I imagine that when everybody finished watching the news, there was not a dry eye in the country! Unfortunately, I am not aware that the news made it outside Israel, and it is extremely sad that events like this one, within its tragic context, are not used to foster peace and brotherhood. I am not going to be callous enough to say that out of a tragedy some good will always result.
But as we approach another year, another set of promises and resolutions that most likely will go unfulfilled, we need to be more aware of our surroundings, our contexts. We need to always remember that the formula is very simple: love, plus good thinking, equal a better world. May tragedy never be the source of happiness, but if we must be touched by it, may we have the strength of heart and spirit to do the right thing.
Klenicki is a Taos resident and former columnist for El Crepúsculo in The Taos News.
