Emotions Running Deep

So for those of you who don't know me personally I will discuss anything. Literally anything. It's actually part of the reason I don't enjoy hanging out with Christian people, because there are so many taboo topics. And even when I did hang out with a lot of Christian people, I was often trying to discuss things people don't like to talk about because they are either 'worldly' or 'impolite conversation' or whatever.

But with non-Christians you can talk about anything. No only that, but in my experience they are far more open and honest than Christians usually are. I've had the most wonderful chats with men and women, gay and straight, about the strangest things, and people are totally honest about their thoughts and feelings, it's wonderful.

In the last week I have spoken about the menstrual cycle, personal hygiene, stages within a relationship, financial management, what Ephesians 4 and 5 really means, what the book of John is all about and what it is like to live in New York City.

Now, I'm not having a go at Christians or Christianity, it's just that I would prefer that people were honest about their feelings, emotions and physical urges rather than just not talking about them, or even worse denying them all together.

But that's not the point of today's blog at all, I'm actually just saying that I will talk about anything. Last night, however, I spoke about a sensitive topic and learned more than I thought I would.

I was chatting to a wonderful gentleman named Scott, who lives in New York City, and he was telling me about what it's like to live in downtown Manhattan which was quite interesting. Then I asked a question which got rather an emotional response, and that shocked me to some extent. I asked him if he was in New York on September 11, and he said yes.

Immediately he started to get very emotional and I could see that he had pain in his eyes just by bringing the topic up. I asked him if he would prefer not to talk about it and he said yes. I respect that and stopped asking questions, but it really did help me to put a face to an emotion.

For an outsider, it's very easy to sit back, look at the numbers and come to a conclusion based on that, but when you take into account the lives involved, the figures really just aren't enough to convey the message. I had a similar experience recently when I watched Valkyrie, and I even blogged on this very topic this week I think.

But to meet someone, and to see the pain in their eyes, it realy is an amazing experience. I know it's easy to fall into the trap of saying, "More people die of starvation every day than those who died in the World Trade Center" but that doesn't mean that we can detract from the immensity of 9/11, it just means we need to increase our effots to reduce starvation.

So here's the lesson I've learned: Human life is more valuable than we could ever imagine, and tragedies are almost always much bigger than we, or at least I, give them credit for. I don't think I need to take time to cry every day for people who have died, but I do think that I should be more mindful of people's sacrifices, particuarly the people I meet in day to day life.