Heartbreak on Display

     There is a new type of porn running rampant, “tragedy porn,” more aptly called “heartbreak porn.” I can scroll through my Facebook feed, or I can go to any news station website and there will be any number of videos or pictures putting someone’s heartbreak on display. There is a new breed of ambulance chasers. Technology is dehumanizing us. Too often we sit behind the safety of an electronic screen. Sifting through the rubble, wreckage, and ashes of someone else’s life. Perhaps with thoughts of “How awful.” “What a shame.” Services them right.” Glad it’s not me.” “Someone needs to do something about that.” But there is a degree of separation.  We get to walk away from without getting dirty, no ashes to wash away. The truth is we are not walking away clean, or at least we should not be.  The part of us that makes us human is getting dirty. I will confess that I will read stories. I will check as many facts as I can. I do not watch videos if I can avoid it. I will occasionally look at photos.  During my time wandering through the lives of others, I pray. Most often I have no words, just a heart that is broken. It is broken for the families that lost loved ones in an accident. It breaks for those that have lost everything in a disaster. My heart weeps for those that feel shame in their lives because they have some type of stigma attached to them. I am heartbroken for the victims. I am sad for the person that is victimizing.   My heart is broken for the homeless and the hopeless. I am grieved for more than I can put into words, because words are too simple for the grieved spirit. I am angry. I am appalled. I am dismayed. We as a people are failing. One thing that I do have is hope, confident expectation, or as a dear friend and sister says JOYFUL expectation. The wonderful thing about HOPE is I do not have to know the how and the why for it. HOPE, much like FAITH, is assurance that things which are uncertain, unclear and unknown will change. HOPE and Faith require action. An action of LOVE. LOVE is not passive. LOVE moves to COMPASSION.  COMPASSION is LOVE in action.