helplessness...

read about the story of a 8 year old at a fellow bloggers site today.triggered a lot of memories for me. Have been involved in the development sector as an individual and a professional in India for the last 15+ years..when one looks at the macro, the scene is overwhelming...but, encouragingly, at micro levels, there are some intervention facilities which have been effective...mumbai and other cities now have a CHILD helpline...1098.

personally, while being a direct and indirect part of various developmental efforts, it took me deeper into spiritual questions, I have sought to address in my life...I have seen the mumbai riots as well as the bomb blasts at very close quarters..so also the various disasters...tsunami, the 26/7 deluge, the various earthquakes etc...while such events leave none untouched, the most affected are the already vulnerable...children, women, the differently-abled etc.and mechanisms remain just that....

guess all of us have the opportunity to transcend from being a Siddhartha to a Buddha ; no one can escape its ( suffering's) presence, it touches each of our lives...

in the context of the huge magnitude of issues , one may not make too much of a difference; it is a drop in the ocean....but to a person we are able to reach out to in our individual capacities within the realm of our lives, believe me, it makes a world of difference.

A human life is not a mere statistic.

While ngos and other agencies are expected to be involved( they operate with their own limitations) , it is a choice each one of us have, to make a difference in the context of our lives. All our lives are touched directly or indirectly by such issues.

And that probably is the key....not issues blackboxed as child care facilities or old age care facilities...they are needed, but somehow , the tendency to blackbox issues has to be avoided and responses purely at spontaneous , human levels enhanced...within the context of our lives...