How to cope with horrific images

SOUL FOOD

“Fear not, for I am with you, be not troubled for I am your God; I

will strengthen you, I will help you, yes, I will uphold you with my

victorious right hand.”

-- ISAIAH 41:10

“War is scary,” says a page on the Girl Scouts of the United

States of America’s Web site, www.girlscouts.org, before it offers

some advice to kids on how to cope with how scary it is.

The Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council wholeheartedly

agrees. War is scary and not only for kids.

A few days after President George W. Bush gave the orders to

invade Iraq , I sat in a room at Huntington Beach City Hall and

listened while members of the council discussed their sense of being

the spiritual voice of this community and, as such, their

responsibility to say something -- something spiritual, something

helpful, something heartening -- to the people of this city during

these days of world crisis.

People are frightened, they all agreed. And they need reassurance.

Founding member Brian Clendenen said people were being told to

pray but that many didn’t know how. He said they needed to know what

to do. He also urged the council to encourage people “to keep their

thoughts in the right place,” not to vilify others. Jesus, he noted,

told his followers to pray for their enemies.

Peggy Price, pastor of the Huntington Beach Church of Religious

Science, offered one of her remedies for war anxiety and stress: for

every five minutes of news watched, spend another 10 minutes in

meditation or prayer. Someone else recom- mended the practice of

unsolicited acts of kindness.

Some of these ideas resembled ideas from the Girl Scout Web site:

Do something to make a difference. Volunteer in the community or

write a letter to a soldier. Turn off the television or change the

channel if the images are difficult to watch.

Time ran short before the interfaith council managed to pull a

finished statement together, but the Rev. Bruce Patterson, pastor of

St. Bonaventure and president of the council, promised to send me a

copy when it is completed. When he does, I hope to share it with you.

Meanwhile, a number of people have sent me messages about

“practicing random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty”

during these difficult times. There’s a whole Web site,

www.actsofkindness.org, devoted to the idea.

Who can argue with kindness? Not me. But I have to admit the words

“random” and “senseless” give me a little pause. I think I might

prefer my kindness with intent and my beauty with, well, some

meaning. But random kindness, I guess, is better than no kindness at

all. No doubt it trumps random meanness. And senseless beauty is

better than none; it sure beats senseless horror, if one must choose.

I got some prayers from the Rev. Wayne Wilson, pastor of St.

Barnabas Antiochian Orthodox Church. They cover a lot of bases.

“We pray for the United States of America, that the Lord may bring

us speedily to victory, and that he may establish peace on earth and

good will among men for evermore.

We pray for all who have fallen into the hands of our enemies; for

the children, the aged, and the sick; for prisoners of war; and for

all those whom our enemies have conquered and enslaved; that God may

look upon them with compassion; that he may comfort, strengthen and

preserve them; and that he may deliver them speedily from bondage and

oppression.

We pray for our relatives and friends who have gone forth to war;

For all who serve in the armed forces on land, on the sea and in the

air; that the Lord may bring them safely out of every peril and

danger, and ever sustain them with the comfort of his mercy.”

Many folks, I know, don’t like pre-written prayers, but I don’t

see how it matters to God as long as we mean what we say.

Wayne sent this bit of assurance, too: If there is the bad news of

a world gone mad, take heart, there is also the good news of one who

can restore it to sanity.

I’m banking on that. Amen.

* MICHELE MARR is a freelance writer from Huntington Beach. She

can be reached at michele@soulfoodfiles.com.