DON'T WEEP FOR THE PEOPLE OF HAITI

Emotional moments can cause me to wax poetic. Sadly I don't normally have a great supply of the kind of 'wax' that it calls for.

What follows is meant to be a song, but I am not a competent singer, so I leave it to others.

I was awakened at 4:00 AM one night after the earthquake disaster in Haiti, following an urgent gift to the Red Cross.

This quatrain ran through my head over and over, coming not from me, but from a deep inner source.
Music and lyrics together, but only the initial verse.

Normally, I would have forgotten all about this early morning oddity by the time I woke up for the second time. This time I didn't and during the next day or two it kept invading my head, again and again.

What does it mean? I interpret it to mean that we waste our energy on hand-wringing and 'adopted sorrow'. To save a drowning person, we must not jump in and drown with them, but stay on firm ground and throw a line. Airlines tell passengers that adults should first put their oxygen masks on in the event of cabin de-pressurization, and only then help their children or the elderly. As heart-wrenching as these disasters appear, we must act to help rather than get caught up in sympathetic suffering. That's my understanding of the line; I did not create the verse!


I have the music running through my head, but not the skill to notate it. If anyone feels the urge to take this up and put their music to it, be my guest.

Don't Weep(January, 2010)

Don't weep, don't weep for the people;
They will do all the weeping.
Don't weep, don't weep for the people;
Just do what you can do.

Don't cry, don't cry for the homeless,
They will do all the crying.
Don't cry, don't cry for the homeless ones,
just do what you can do.

Don't feel needless pain
or torture yourself anew-
It's enough that these are felt
by those who are passing through
That valley of tears,
the shadow of death pervades
Keep yourself on that happier shore
That sadness never invades

Don't weep, don't weep for the injured;
They will do all the weeping
Don't weep, don't weep for the orphans
Just do what you can do.

Don't give in to the urge to wail,
Don't let the sorrow overtake you,
Never frown when the world seems down,
Just do what you can do.