Contrary to Miss Sarajevo’s way of thinking (nothing personal – everyone is motivated differently), I find that being able to respond to the voice in my head that says ‘you spoiled bitch! you don’t deserve to have a home when others are homeless, or to eat when others starve!’ with ‘no, *everyone* deserves what I have’ makes it easier to feel like I’m capable of helping, even though I’m not strong enough to give up my car and my cat and my internet and my apartment with its heat and indoor plumbing and plenty of food of my choosing.

Haha, actually, my way of thinking is, for the most part, similar enough to yours, just that with BIG stuff (i.e. issues of life and death) I tend to reign myself in by telling myself that others have gone through far, far worse and if they can make it, there must be both a way and reason for me to do so as well.

I like my indoor plumbing as much as the next person –believe me. I had to pee in an open drain in the freezing cold next to a women with dysentery (and probably TB as well, considering where I was) last weekend. That’s, uh, not fun.

Point being, if ‘counting your blessings’ just makes you feel guilty, maybe looking at it as wanting everyone to have your blessings too will help you?

*yes, I am alive because I am too selfish to off myself. it’s fun to live inside my head!

It’s my opinion that simply being informed about injustice is not enough, and can even be counterproductive. When a blog entry or a news blurb does not include ways of actively helping out or fighting back, it can unintentionally induce depression and apathy.

I agree. That’s why I think it’s particularly important to balance the bad news with good news and with calls to action.

I read your post and left a comment :)

I can count the rare, exceptional instances of single people changing the world for the better in a major, profound way with one hand. And Ironically, the people you will never hear about, collectively, will do more good than any single individual ever will.

We can’t cheat death or the odds, so there is no reason to expect the good we do can either. When your time is up, you will punch-out with the satisfaction of knowing that when the chips were down, you did what was right for this world and man/womankind.

why am i telling you about this story written by a sci-fi writer? because it was written in the late 50′s or early 60′s! Sturgeon always wrote with a message, and one of the things here is that people are evolved to take ACTION. we have trouble watching/reading world news, because we can’t DO anything, but we are supposed to react. 50 years later, and it is still a major problem. i, personally, blame the existence of mass media for the upwards continuing trend towards depression and similar – we have no choice but to feel these things… Sturgeon was a big fan of jumping in and doing something, even if it was little. he hugged random strangers (okay, not a good idea in todays world…). he gave money to random strangers. he went everywhere and tried to help everyone. he rocked. today, i’m not even sure i could get a passport to Iran, and then once i was there, what would i do? how could i, realisticly, help? i can’t help a farmer get in his crop…

so, i guess the point is, its been at least 50 years since this problem was pointed out, and NO ONE is looking for a way to fix it. i wonder why

I’ve struggled with depression for half of my life, and after a long period of “okay,” I found myself sliding into the “thoughts of suicide” a few months ago, in no small part to my personal problems, but compounded a great deal by the world around me. Murder. War. Rape. Seeming hatred of my gender by the opposite gender and even by members of my own gender. The bad things going down in my life were dark, but darker, it seemed, was the hopeless world around me.

BabyPop, I, too, have struggled with depression. For me, it’s something I’ve dealt with all my life, and probably always will battle against.

A few years ago, after a particularly horrible year in Washington, DC –a year that taught me I was helpless, the world hopeless, and humanity irredeemably despicable — I slipped into a deep and dangerous depression. It was my darkest hour. It still hurts to think about that time. My best friend saved my life, and I will never be able to adequately express how grateful I am for that.

As I picked the pieces of my life up, I slowly went back to my old “change the world for the better” self, though with greater appreciation for the ability to affect small changes slowly over time. As I moved closer to the path I wanted to be on, I became scared, though. What if I go to these places where terrible things happened, where terrible things are still happening, where there is hate and oppression and fatal poverty and I just fall to pieces? I asked myself.

But the exact opposite happened. When I went to places scarred by war, and met people who had suffered tragedies and terror I cannot begin to understand, I began to see the big picture. If they could find reason and strength to go on living, I could not excuse my flirtations with suicide.

The people who inspire me and lift me up are people I know personally who have every reason in the world to be bigoted, angry, and devoid of compassion –but are instead working hard to build a kinder, more just, and more peaceful world. They’ve shown me that we can’t box human nature in –if such a thing as “human nature” even exists. And above all, they’ve shown me that there is always hope.

:) Hang in there.

Though I have found there is an odd benefit to being so focused on the last couple weeks of the semester that I ignore all else: it means I give the news only a cursory skim, so that I am primarily only freaking out about finals! AUGH! and not depressed about the usual state of the world. Finals: my mental coffee break from the Real World.

Good luck!