reaction to events of the week

... bombing in Boston

.... explosion in Texas

.... ricin letters

Yesterday a co-worker told me she afraid to leave the house with everything that happened this week. I understand the emotional overload that all of this created, but I refuse to live my life in fear. I do not mean to minimize the horror of these events. They are horrible, no doubt. But I will not let terrorists win by hiding in my home. My life will go on.

How do the rest of you feel?

I feel that I have a renewed commitment to live each day as if it's my last. I feel that we need to have a good relationship with God and humanity because times are uncertain.

As long as I live each day knowing my soul is ok and Heaven awaits me if it's my last day, then I am not afraid.

Love each other and treat others right. That's how I feel.

I'm siding with your friend on this one, lol. This may sound completely vain and paranoid, but I live in a state that might be seen as a desirable target for attention-grabbing terrorist acts. So whenever I hear of a potential terrorist attack, I go into panic mode. I fell asleep today obsessively watching the news, and was awoken by a rather loud airplane. Scared the snot out of me!

Of course, this paranoia only occurs when I'm in a certain state. Most of the time, I'm not concerned by terrorism and I don't live life in fear. But sometimes it can be quite triggering.

" the world is a sad and beautiful place"

Granted that this was a really horrible week but your
right! We can't live in fear.
I was just thinking to myself:
"OMG and I thought that I was having a bad week"
Mom recently said to me that there is always someone
else going through worse than you.

I thought that it was horrible and horrible things happen all the time and it becomes our "entertainment" but I honestly wasn't surprised... I dunno if I'm desensitized or what? I live in kind of a rough area and hear about bad things happening all the time. People can be sick, twisted, full of hatred and act out very violent. I also took a criminology class and learned ALL about murderers and serial killers and even terrorists (btw most wouldn't fit the criteria of "mentally ill" most are perfectly sane)

No changes here... I'm not worried. People are going to do crazy things and accidents are going to happen. I don't plan to make any changes because of what happened last week. We don't live in Gaza or Syria. That kind of puts it into perspective to me.

I am glad the second man was taken alive.

I also think it's a good thing. If he'd been killed I might have become another of the conspiracy nuts. I still might if I find out that the FBI or HSA was involved with these men before the bombing.

Me too Winter. I'm hoping we might get some sort of explanation why.

I am on the top of the fence, leaning towards the negative. I do have negative tendencies, and this is one of them!

I purposely avoid the news as much as possible, because when I hear about all of the tragedies happening here and in foreign countries (my heart knows no borders), I become completely overwhelmed and distressed about the chaos & misery spread throughout the world. It is then very difficult for me to focus on the simple pleasures in life and enjoy the things that I do have in my world.

For some people, during distressing times, it's helpful to compare themselves to those who have it worse. It helps them put things into perspective. That doesn't work for me, and it never has. Knowing that I have this tendency is helpful, as I can purposely avoid pushing myself into this dramatic state of mind.

I'm glad they got the second one alive. I doubt the explanation will make any sense. Does a senseless why help? What struck me was how hard marathoners train and then to have some senseless evil act maybe maim them for life. They had nothing to do with anything that someone might want revenge for. Neither did the little kids killed and crippled. There were a lot of helpers doing their part in all this too.

I haven't heard most of what's happened in the world this week, or for any length of time, for that matter (I only just heard of Boston in my therapy group on Tuesday), because I don't watch the news, don't read newspapers or headlines, and don't have internet accounts that are full of advertisements and headlines. So I'm pretty isolated from it all. My heart goes out to all of us, all of the time. I am glad this thread was started. There is much wisdom and beauty in what you all have to say and it reminds me of how precious all life is. It reminds me to get back to basics and enjoy what I have while I have it, and to be a good steward.