The World is Broken but the Weather is Nice: Some Incomplete Thoughts on Injustice

There are always things to be angry about

The world is, according to the most optimistic reviewers, deeply and irretrievably flawed, and even the most pessimistic commentators tend to agree that it's the duty of good people, or even of bad people who want to do good, to be angry about the state of things.

Further, it's our obligation--our privilege, really--to be aware of our world, and of all the wretchedness in it. Not just because it means that our lives are easy enough that we can lift our eyes up from the work of survival to glance at what else is happening, but also because it means that we might have some power to make a difference.

There's too much to be angry about

My attention span and capacity to take it all in will founder in the face of all of the genocide, environmental disaster, and injustice. Just as Dunbar's number describes the limits of close friendship, there's a number of tragedies past which our active compassion can't extend. Nonprofits, news agencies and governments all know this, and every advocate for a cause works hard to pry open our brains to implant the details of the particular tragedy or injustice that has consumed them.

In the end, it's one more thing to be angry about--we can't be angry about all the things we ought to be angry about.

You've got to pick your battles

It's my privilege and obligation to make a difference in the world beyond myself, but I can't make a difference in all the places that need a difference to be made. How do I pick my battles?

There are some needs I know about that other people don't. In my case, they mostly involve needs in places I've lived--Nepal, for instance. There are still more needs that I'm aware of in Nepal than I can ever hope to care about or meet, but I do know of one or two ways that I can make a difference in some situations there, and I spend some time and money and prayers on trying to address it, and hope that it’s making a difference.

So I know that--even though I'm not making the biggest difference, or the main difference, or solving more than one of the small problems that needs to be solved, that I'm actively involved in countering one small corner of one small country's share of what's wrong in the world.

You've got to pick more battles

I also think, as a caveat, that it's important to not just become a part of meeting one need one place in the world, and think you're done for a lifetime. I hope to always be open to discovering other needs, and doing what I can to meet them. I don't want to lean on the limits of my human compassion as an excuse to justify inaction.

Know you can't do it all

I already made this point, but it's a part of why I don't feel guilty about enjoying the beautiful weather and relative calm in my corner of the universe; I'm trying to do my part, and I know that my part is small. I trust that when I can, and when I need to do more, I'll be shown the need, and my ability to answer it.

And in the meantime, I don't make anything better by letting myself be consumed by the rage against injustice or the stress of a broken universe.

It's an obligation and a privilege to work to make the world a better place. We need to take it seriously. It's also a privilege, and an obligation, to enjoy the spring weather while we have it.