The 'resilience' that ever existed in communities in Missouri, have now been torn apart by a less 'resilient' commitment to 'justice and mercy'. The consequences are grave, literally!
The whole of the US has been destabilised by the uproar, following the shooting of Michael Brown. The obvious problem, is that the civil unrest and disobedience by the 'black' communities in response, will simply reinforce prejudice against them. If only they could see that!
As I look on, at a very hurting world, it causes me to also evaluate my own circumstances and 'resilience' to the pressures I face as an individual. They look trivial by comparison!
But, there is a big test looming!
Kim is going away, as from tonight, to the US for a week, to visit a friend who lives in South Carolina. This is deep south territory, with its own particular culture. It too will be 'feeling' the impact of the recent events in Missouri, to a greater or lesser degree. So I hope that Kim's holiday is not blighted by these events.
Anyway, the 'test' is that Kim has not been away for more than a weekend before. It's a test for both of us. Kim is very nervous about the travel and practicalities, while I'm potentially concerned about my daily well-being whilst she is away.
In actual fact, I'm not anxious about it at all, my Christian faith dispels that - and gives me the 'resilience' I need to get through the week ahead.
I would value your thoughts and prayers, however, as there are some very real practical challenges to be faced during this coming week!
There is another aspect to 'resilience' that I thought I would mention - and that is to do with 'pain management'....
As you will be aware, from previous blogs, I've been struggling with perpetual upper body pain, and so far, no medical intervention has helped. On average, the pain level has 'settled' at around 6/10 on the pain scale... pretty intolerable! However, I'm getting the impression that this may be systematically 'on the way down' as a result of the brain's resilience!
Experiments using optical devices over the eyes, have shown that the brain can 'correct' an image which has been visually 'inverted'. It's an astonishing fact, that the brain can, after some time, take some remedial action to correct issues that we may have. It has 'resilience' - it can compensate.
In this respect, like the correction of visual stimuli, I'm hopeful that my own brain, is beginning to 'adjust' towards reducing the sensation of my upper body pain.
Of course, I might be wrong about this, but I live in constant hope that some improvement might come about 'naturally' rather than having to rely on potent drugs with potentially drastic side-effects.