Watch Scared Sacred by Velcrow Ripper. An amazing documentary that asks the question "Is it possible to find hope in the darkest moments of human history?" Be surprised by the resilience and compassion of the survivors of some of the most awful moments in our memories. Velcrow Ripper takes quite a journey, from the killing fields of Cambodia to NYC just after 9/11, talking to artists in Sarajevo, a Sufi musician and courageous members of RAWAin Afghanistan, and the Bereaved Families Circle in Israel & Palestine. Breathe in suffering... breathe out compassion...
There's bits of Scared Sacred on this episode of Rabble Radio, which is always good for a listen (that's also where I discovered Kobayashi).
Listen to and be inspired by Velcrow Ripper's Podcast, Fierce Light. A good antidote to cynicism without resorting to denial. Interesting, because I'm not spiritual, but this actually reaches out on a very human level, I think. The knowledge of what atrocities and tragedies are occurring around the world sometimes hits at a visceral level, and it is easy to get overwhelmed, and then want to avoid this knowledge, but that doesn't make anything better, it only helps perpetuate a neurotic society.
We need to acknowledge reality, but keep our hope, and perspective, in face of it all. (An excellent read in terms of perspective is False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear by Marc Siegel - I'll review this another time)
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