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Over the holidays I watched a lot of documentaries. On WWII and WWI primarily. I had to stop watching them because I started entering depression as a result. Fortunately, I switched to success stories in the War and those things sustained me. But I still have these periods when I feel this INCREDIBLE SADNESS for a world that treats human life so cheaply. You hear statistics — Germany lost 50,000 soldiers and Russia lost 1.2 Million….each one of those deaths represents the loss of the entire world to each person.
Thoughts of a soldier, healthy and young one second, with so many personal talents, gunned down the next and perhaps left to die in solitary suffering on a battlefield — I feel so saddened about it. War is so much part of the world’s history. I feel saddened that so much death has occurred due to the whims of powerful men (such as when HItler ordered fighting to the last person against the Allies and Russia, even though the War was lost). Needless suffering….I am thankful that I made it through my prime without having to go to War.
But I ask these questions..
a) has anyone ever experienced this — this incredible sadness for the voluminous loss of life that War in all ages creates.
b) this feeling that the world is so cruel and unfeeling toward the personal hell of individuals?
c) How do you lift your spirits even in the face of this reality?
Oh yes I can relate. With the problems in my marriage I have been fighting low-grade depression for a few years. Over the years I have really enjoyed WWII documentaries. I used to see very clearly God’s hand in having the US win the war (Europe and Pacific code-breaking successes, luck in the Pacific at Midway island, German’s jet engine powered planes too little / too late, the US being able to create the atomic bomb before Germany, …). I started watching some of the WWI documentaries and it was just so terribly sad the conditions and countless deaths. Boys being asked to jump out of their ditch to charge a field full of barbed wire and tons of machine gun fire coming at them – suicide. And it was done for months on end. Then it seemed to taint even the WWII documentaries. They had too much of a taste of, “boy are we good – we won this” and all I could see is this hour long documentary was just a small slice of the estimated 50 MILLION people that died during that conflict. I realized that for my mental health I needed to back off from watching those. SD, In my experience depression is fueled by seeing the dark and ignoring the light. Doing so, in turn, deepens depression. It’s a dangerous self-feeding spiral.
In the case of wars and all other manner of human failures, they exist and are tough. But there are rays of light even in those troubling times. And more importantly, there are completely unrelated human successes. I often think that if an alien tuned into our 24-hour news channels from outer space, they would think that most all people are evil. But, the reality is that most people (in my experience) are good, caring, thoughtful people.
I used to know an older-generation woman… now gone the way of all the earth… She was such a kind, charming, wonderful person. She had a way of making others feel love and contentedness. Yet, when she was a young woman, she married a man in uniform who was shipped off shortly thereafter and never came home from the fighting in France. I can only imagine that she was devastated and hurt in a way that few of us will ever know. A few years later, and after the war, she was at some kind of banquet, wearing her widow’s pin and she met another soldier in uniform. The two struck up a friendship and were eventually married. They raised a wonderful family, joined the Church, and lived simple but very fulfilled lives. I never heard them speak of the war. A few years ago, I was in town where she was living. Her husband had already passed away and I learned that she was in the hospital near the end. I hadn’t seen her in probably two and a half years. So, I went to visit her. I walked into the room where she was alone and dozing. She stirred, looked up at me and said, “Well, hello, [called me by name]!” I held her hand as she asked about my family and in her familiar way, made me feel like I was the only person on earth besides her. I’m grateful that I knew her and that she knew me.
Good points. I realized it was the nourishment of my spirit that caused the downward spiral. I had to start watching shows about successful raids on the Germans, special ops groups on missions that were incredibly successful, the end of the German domination, a story about cracking Enigma’s code, etcetera, to counteract the dark effects of the realitities of War. And reflect on how I’ve managed to get through 3 quartiles of my probable life span with peace and progress in my own civilization. That is much more than many young men in other generations. Too bad most of American television focuses on non-uplifting situations, like crime, violence, and other things that don’t enoble the spirit. There was one show called Touched by an Angel that broke the mold somewhat, about angels and their interaction with people on earth. I wish there were more of those uplifting shows. Perhaps we could lift a few shows that uplift the spirit:
1. Forrest Gump
I can’t think of anything else…
My daughter is studying the Holocaust. She knew the basics, but she has been appalled at the details she is learning now. She is angry and has vented steadily as she has been reading.
It is a small-scale example, but anyone who has a heart has it broken to some degree and/or numbed – and I understand both.
All things surrounding war (and serious, damaging conflict of many kinds) is one reason I see the “natural man” reference in the Book of Mormon as inspired.
SD asked the questions: Quote:But I ask these questions..
a) has anyone ever experienced this — this incredible sadness for the voluminous loss of life that War in all ages creates.
b) this feeling that the world is so cruel and unfeeling toward the personal hell of individuals?
c) How do you lift your spirits even in the face of this reality?
My answers:
a) Yes. Every time we have reports of mass shootings & I consider that no one seems to care or are helpless to come up with solutions. Or they think the solution is for more people to carry guns. It seems overwhelming sometimes. It seems to get worse over time.
b) Mental health facilities are closing in our community. The front line in dealing with the mentally ill (for example) are families, teachers & police.
c) I try to listen to good music, read a good book, watch a good movie, laugh with friends & play with my Grandchildren.
I don’t want to disclose too much about myself on this website. But my name on here is University…So I’m going to share some personal information. Essentially, without going into too many specifics, my field of study is humans behaving badly in the modern era…so, from WWI: armed conflict, mass killings, mass rapes, genocides, slave trades, sex slave trades, you get the picture. Probably the stuff that makes most people’s stomachs turn. The point is, my heart has broken a lot because of what I’ve chosen to pursue for my career. It’s made worse by the fact that I’m surrounded by people that barely know a thing about all the horrible things that are going on in the world and what’s happened in the past. And then the fact that I feel a lot of these things could be prevented if more people cared. But I understand why people don’t know what’s going on and what’s happened. And I understand why people care not to know, even though that ensures that history repeats itself. It’s a tough situation.
I will say that I am probably desensitized to a lot of things that would upset people, like graphic images and details of surviving horrific events. However, there’s always something that gets me, always some aspect that pulls on the heartstrings. And I’m glad. I don’t want to lose that emotional connection. I will say it makes for awkward conversations when people ask what I’m doing at school. When I go into specifics people get uncomfortable or don’t even know what I’m talking about. It’s refreshing when I meet someone who shows genuine interest and wants to discuss and learn. That’s what I’ve found. For people who survive horrific events–from being sold into sex slavery as a little girl–to having their father killed in battle—they often just want to know that someone cares and will listen.
For me, I don’t think it’s bad that you get down about these kinds of realities. Regardless of whether or not you believe in a literal translation of the scriptures, Mormon theology believes in the God who weeps. We believe in the God who descended below all things and still is able to find joy even after being acquainted with all of this. But make no mistake, the scriptures depict a Christ who was very well acquainted with deep, deep sorrow. And because he knows how horrible the world is, he is able to better empathize with us, or so the theology goes. He has wisdom. For me, when I am saddened by all the truly horrible things that have happened and are happening, I comfort myself by telling myself at least I care. And I am better able to empathize with others because I’ve looked some very ugly things in the face and still find beauty in the world. And because I care about the things I know, I need to do something to try and make life better for all the people I meet. I can’t fix the world. But I can do my part to try and make it better.
Also, it might comfort you to know that I’ve been amazed at how humans can pull through such horrible circumstances. Rarely is there a rosy happy ending like the fairytales would say. But there are survivors to these events that truly survive. They thrive. And I think that’s a beautiful thing indeed.
P.S. For uplifting material, if you’re the “Rated-R” watching kind, The Shawshank Redemption is a personal favorite.
Thanks U and I will checkout that movie. Quote:a) has anyone ever experienced this — this incredible sadness for the voluminous loss of life that War in all ages creates.
b) this feeling that the world is so cruel and unfeeling toward the personal hell of individuals?
c) How do you lift your spirits even in the face of this reality?
a) & b)
Yes, my faith crisis brought on a new wave of empathy that I didn’t have before. At times it was paralyzing. Knowing some of the personal hells that I’ve been through, knowing that many (far too many) people have had it much worse than I. Knowing that people have suffered greatly, have now passed from this earth, and everyone goes about their daily lives as if nothing has happened, business as usual. It doesn’t have to be war. Starvation, abuse, any suffering that people go through. Reflecting on it can be crushingly depressing.
c)
It’s contradictory in a way but if life didn’t go back to “business as usual” then our experiences would only become worse and worse over time as we dwelled on all the sadness. At the same time going back to business as usual feels like doing people a disservice. It’s far too hard for me to explain.
SilentDawning wrote:Over the holidays I watched a lot of documentaries. On WWII and WWI primarily…I had to stop watching them because I started entering depression as a result. Fortunately, I switched to success stories in the War and those things sustained me. But I still have these periods when I feel this INCREDIBLE SADNESS for a world that treats human life so cheaply. You hear statistics — Germany lost 50,000 soldiers and Russia lost 1.2 Million….each one of those deaths represents the loss of the entire world to each person…War is so much part of the world’s history. I feel saddened that so much death has occurred due to the whims of powerful men (such as when HItler ordered fighting to the last person against the Allies and Russia, even though the War was lost). Needless suffering….I am thankful that I made it through my prime without having to go to War…But I ask these questions..
a) has anyone ever experienced this — this incredible sadness for the voluminous loss of life that War in all ages creates.
b)
this feeling that the world is so cruel and unfeeling toward the personal hell of individuals? c) How do you lift your spirits even in the face of this reality?
Basic war movies and documentaries never bothered me too much but some things like exactly what happened in the Holocaust and just how sick and sadistic some people have been is hard to listen to sometimes. I even stopped watching the news on TV most of the time because after a while it seemed like it was just one awful thing after another that I can’t really do anything about and don’t have time to worry about. I think it’s good to have a general idea of what is going on in the world and what some potential threats are as well as learn what we can from history but I think I can already do that without needing to hear all the gory details and dwell on worst case scenarios.
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