Numbers don\u2019t suffer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n People do. Children and mothers and fathers, as you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Husbands and wives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know. Should we then all keep thinking about the suffering of so many who are in misery?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, we should, in a way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, we cannot, for several reasons. We don\u2019t know all those people. We are not made to empathize with millions. We would be devastated if we would always think of them \u2015 paralyzed perhaps. It wouldn\u2019t do them any good, anyway. Obviously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet their suffering is real and shouldn\u2019t be un-realized. You might turn on your TV and in the news, by coincidence, they show one child starving to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It might be your child.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Think about that. Maybe, a few hours later, the child is dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the same world we are all living in. It isn\u2019t a different world. It\u2019s this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few minutes later, you might forget the child. See? You are not guilty. You are not a monster, nor a villain. You are a normal person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is normal. Still, it\u2019s \u201cnot what it is.\u201d It is not unimportant. See?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Doing your daily routine, suffering exists all over the place. It\u2019s there, nearby, on this very same planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should not be callous.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tears can be beautiful. Thinking about suffering can be very beautiful,<\/p>\n\n\n\n as can be the acknowledging of our human condition and our incapacity to amend it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One can be joyful. Still, that doesn\u2019t make it disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We shouldn\u2019t deny it. To deny it is what would be unrealistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might drink. You might dance. You might enjoy and go to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or you might be suffering yourself \u2015 like months of pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might even be dying \u2015 on a day like any other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Numbers don\u2019t lie, but they don\u2019t speak the whole truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Numbers don\u2019t suffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People do.<\/p>\n