Comments on: Making the Numbers Mean Something http://blacknell.net/dynamic/2008/05/14/making-the-numbers-mean-something/ Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:35:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Joy http://blacknell.net/dynamic/2008/05/14/making-the-numbers-mean-something/#comment-47503 Joy Fri, 16 May 2008 00:39:02 +0000 http://blacknell.net/dynamic/?p=826#comment-47503 I had to stop listening to the radio when it was on. I'm not proud, but I just couldn't listen. It made my mind crazy just living it as the recipient of the story. It didn't help that I had my baby on my lap at the time. Peej, that is a really moving description of the state of mind involved. From the outside I think it is relatively easy to think logically about the likelihood of survival, and the horrendous hopeless state of things. I wouldn't be able to stop digging for my daughter. I had to stop listening to the radio when it was on. I’m not proud, but I just couldn’t listen. It made my mind crazy just living it as the recipient of the story. It didn’t help that I had my baby on my lap at the time.

Peej, that is a really moving description of the state of mind involved. From the outside I think it is relatively easy to think logically about the likelihood of survival, and the horrendous hopeless state of things. I wouldn’t be able to stop digging for my daughter.

]]> By: MB http://blacknell.net/dynamic/2008/05/14/making-the-numbers-mean-something/#comment-47502 MB Thu, 15 May 2008 22:19:39 +0000 http://blacknell.net/dynamic/?p=826#comment-47502 Peej, I can only imagine that. And because of that radio segment, that imagined situation involves a lot more empathy. I didn't speak the mother's language, but I understood her exactly when I heard her cry out for her son. I think most any person on the planet would. Peej, I can only imagine that. And because of that radio segment, that imagined situation involves a lot more empathy. I didn’t speak the mother’s language, but I understood her exactly when I heard her cry out for her son. I think most any person on the planet would.

]]> By: Peej http://blacknell.net/dynamic/2008/05/14/making-the-numbers-mean-something/#comment-47497 Peej Thu, 15 May 2008 02:35:33 +0000 http://blacknell.net/dynamic/?p=826#comment-47497 I'm trying to comment and I keep coming up blank, because you have it absolutely right. That story says it all. *** (This particularly hits home so hard, though--oh not just because I have a small toddler son myself. But because I know of that frantic hope against hope that somewhere, underneath the rubble, someone you care for is alive. It's a frenzied, manic altered state of reality (and mind) where you think this simply cannot be and is not happening. Because if it was real and the worst had come to pass, surely you couldn't stand to live yourself. Yet there you are, still living, in defiance of this terrible event and the only way that would be possible is if it weren't really, truly happening. And so you hold on to your hope as the only truth you want to--make that the only truth you *can* let yourself--believe in.) I’m trying to comment and I keep coming up blank, because you have it absolutely right. That story says it all.
***
(This particularly hits home so hard, though–oh not just because I have a small toddler son myself. But because I know of that frantic hope against hope that somewhere, underneath the rubble, someone you care for is alive. It’s a frenzied, manic altered state of reality (and mind) where you think this simply cannot be and is not happening. Because if it was real and the worst had come to pass, surely you couldn’t stand to live yourself. Yet there you are, still living, in defiance of this terrible event and the only way that would be possible is if it weren’t really, truly happening. And so you hold on to your hope as the only truth you want to–make that the only truth you *can* let yourself–believe in.)

]]>