I\u2019m in a Texas airport having gotten off of one plane from Amarillo about to get onto another one to Houston. <\/p>\n
I kissed my wife and kids goodbye this morning. While I\u2019m excited about the nature of my trip, I\u2019m sad that I ever<\/em> have to tell my wife and kids goodbye. And even with the anticipated sweetness that will come (Lord willing) with our reunion, I\u2019m sad that I will do so many more times in my life.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sad that I have a very good friend in Houston who has recently and suddenly discovered melanoma cancer in her brain, and the family is now talking to hospice. <\/p>\n I\u2019m sad my country recently conducted a retaliatory hit on Osama Bin Laden, murdering him for having murdered 1000s of my countrymen, for which I am also very sad. I remember watching in stunned silence back in 2001 the TV images of people in the streets of middle eastern countries celebrating OBL\u2019s hit on the Twin Towers, and then in 2011 watching Americans celebrate the hit on OBL. Those make me sad, too.<\/p>\n Many things make me sad.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sad about the mistakes I\u2019ve made.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sad that I have hurt other people. I\u2019m sad that others have hurt me. I\u2019m sad that others hurt others. <\/p>\n I\u2019m sad about my inability to do what I say I want. <\/p>\n I\u2019m sad that our bodies wear out. I\u2019m sad there is emotional pain in people. I\u2019m sad that mental and physical disabilities are suffered.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sad that there are hungry people.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sad that there is evil. I\u2019m sad when people do evil and get away with it. I\u2019m sad when people who do evil get what\u2019s coming to them. I am sad when someone can\u2019t defend themselves. I\u2019m sad when someone has to.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sad there is sickness.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sad there is war. I\u2019m sad there is politics. I\u2019m sad there are quarrels. I\u2019m sad there is violence.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sad there is poverty.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sad there is inequality. I\u2019m sad when equality is forced or coerced. I\u2019m sad there is lack of compassion. <\/p>\n I\u2019m sad there is oppression.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sad there is divorce. I\u2019m sad there are hasty marriages. I\u2019m sad there are children who are relationally orphaned by both.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sad about sexual abuse. I\u2019m sad about homosexuality. I\u2019m sad about prostitution. I\u2019m sad about pornography. I\u2019m sad about gender confusion. I\u2019m sad about the fear and hatred expressed towards it all. <\/p>\n Obviously, lots of things make me sad. But one thing that I am NOT sad about is that there is sadness. <\/p>\n Sadness seems like a very unique, very special, very appropriate emotional response to just about anything that would cause any negative thoughts, feelings or actions. Sadness, seems to me, is the most (or only) productive of what we might call \u201cnegative\u201d emotions. <\/p>\n Sadness is my escape from the \u201ccontrol emotions\u201d of guilt, anger, and worry.<\/p>\n Guilt comes to me when I can\u2019t control the past.<\/p>\n Anger comes to me when I can\u2019t control the present.<\/p>\n Worry comes to me when I can\u2019t control the future.<\/p>\n These come when I feel like something is \u201cwrong\u201d and I can\u2019t do anything about it. They are all unproductive. They steal my light and love and life. They all lead (in one way or another) to death.<\/p>\n Sadness, on the other hand, while intense at times, is merely the acknowledgement that all is not as it should be. Sadness happens when you believe that things should be better than they are, when you admit that they aren\u2019t, and when you refuse to hide behind the control emotions. <\/p>\n And you might as well let go of control since you don\u2019t have it anyway. After all, guilt leads to despair, anger leads to violence, and anxiety leads to either denial or panic. Sadness, however, is the only emotional response to bad things doesn\u2019t lead to other things that create and inspire more sadness. <\/p>\n Sadness can only end with the arrival of comfort. Given the alternatives, sadness is a very appropriate, and even good, thing.<\/p>\n Trust sadness. Don\u2019t solve sadness. Stay in sadness. Take it with you when it comes. Do not shortchange sadness. Do not replace sadness. <\/p>\n Practice sadness. <\/p>\n For those who do, it comes with a promise from Jesus, who said it like this: \u201cBlessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m in a Texas airport having gotten off of one plane from Amarillo about to get onto another one to Houston. I kissed my wife and kids goodbye this morning. While I\u2019m excited about the nature of my trip, I\u2019m sad that I ever have to tell my wife and kids goodbye. And even with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-compassion","category-death-and-tragedy","category-the-best-life"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pO6nf-6d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianmashburn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}