I feel angry and powerless, and I don't want simply to turn away, to say "not my problem". It's my problem. It's everyone's problem, if only just a little.
I keep thinking of this story, that I believe
koogrr pointed me to a long time ago. Some images stay with you. This one stayed with me. After 9/11, a lot of people in many countries showed support for the US. But this one, in particular, I remember. Because these were people half a world away, who probably think of America as a place unimaginably wealthier than they are. Who should've thought, "Wow, what a tremendous and terrible loss. There's nothing we could do that would make a difference." But they did something anyway. And you know what? It made a difference.
At least to me.
I want to make a difference. I want to write something stirringly eloquent for them. I want to dust off my decade-old terrible Spanish and say something that would help, if only a little. Something to let the people in Madrid know that they aren't alone, that a whole world full of good, decent people is with them, grieving for their loss, and condemning the terrorists that did this to them.
The Spanish equivalent of "I'm sorry" is "Lo siento. That literally means, "I feel it." I always liked that phrase better than "I'm sorry", beca use it captures that empathy. Lo siento is not 'Whoops, my bad' but 'I sorrow for your loss'. The latter is much more eloquent.
Lo siento.
For most of the the last two and a half years, I've worn red, white, and blue ponytail holders at the end of my braid. You know. I never used to think the American colors went very well together, but then I decided that a little patriotism goes with everything.
I think tomorrow, I'll wear red and yellow, instead.
I don't know that I can do anything useful.
But I can try.
