“No Longer on the Sidelines”

~ Elizabeth

australia

I have always done better with the specific rather than the general or the abstract. While I have compassion for problems in the world, they have always seemed to be happening to “other people.” I have never been able to feel personally connected to the situations.

That all changed when I began to blog. At first I just had a few sites that I followed. But after a while I realized that I was now corresponding regularly with writers around the globe. Of course they began to share news not just personal, but frequently about conditions around them. So I found myself, for the first time, in relationship with people in the middle of elections, or weather patterns, and health challenges that I had previously only skimmed over when I read the newspaper.

As I watched video of the catastrophic fires in Australia I began to wonder where the blogger I followed lived. I know that Australia is enormous and didn’t presume that she necessarily was affected. But, as it turns out, she lives where the fires are raging. Her parents have had to evacuate and her sister just extinguished embers in her yard.

And while I know that the climate is changing, as I read posts, including from this friend, I become increasingly deeply aware of the effect it is having world wide. From things blooming out of season, to drought, to record breaking rain, to flooding, I read first hand accounts from my correspondents.

We truly are all in this together. It would be wonderful if the caring community of blogging could be replicated in the larger world. Until then, know that I care about each of you and the challenges you face.

 

34 thoughts on ““No Longer on the Sidelines””

  4. Thank you Elizabeth, and I know that your thoughts and concerns are replicated by so many of us in this supportive blogging world. This is the caring side of social media, exactly as it should be. We may not all agree, we may have greatly opposed views, but, for the most part, we listen, we sympathise and empathise, we care!

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  7. The blogging community is like nothing I had ever encountered previously. Such understanding from people in many different situations, coming to realise that our hopes and fears are in fact identical.
    Best wishes, Pete.

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  10. I couldn’t have said it better, Elizabeth. I’m sorry to hear about your friend. When people we know are affected, it’s quite understandable that we pay closer attention.

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  14. Faceboook and Instagram etc.) have some good sides but I have found the blogging community to be so much more authentic. Many bloggers share the good, the bad and the ugly side of their lives instead of just showing happy events and photos with everyone wearing big smiles. With respect to Australia, I admit to feeling helpless as I watch this disaster unfold in the news …

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