Journal of Sacred Work

There is so much sorrow in the world. – Keith Hagan, M.D.

   Dr. Hagan knows about suffering. In addition to his medical practice and his charitable work in Nashville, he often travels to Ecuador to care for poor residents who wait for days in long lines to receive his healing touch.
   The May 6 edition of the Nashville paper, The Tennessean, carries what have become the "usual" accounts of tragedy – food riots in Somalia that kill people who are already starving, deadly hurricanes in Burma (Myanmar) combine with the government’s resistance to accepting outside aid, the murder of sixteen ranchers in Mexico. But we don’t need to travel far to find sorrow. The story at the top of the "Local" section recounts tragedy in a few column inches…   

   "Mom jailed after son shows off drugs" the headline reads. The sub-headline deepens the tragedy. The boy in the story is only five years old. The drugs are cocaine and marijuana which he found in his mother’s dresser and brought to school to show the other kids.
   Each layer of this story brings more sorrow. The police arrest his mother who is a drug addict. Next, the 5-year-old is placed in state custody. Then the state takes custody of the four other children in the home. Their ages range from 7 years old down to just 8 months. What hope is there for these children? What hope lives for their mother? The mother’s brother is also a part of the tragedy and is being sought by police.
   The mug shots of the mom and her brother that appear in the newspaper (above, left) are paintings of sorrow – flat expressions, dull eyes, perhaps hints of anger at the plight in which they find themselves.
   I found myself shaking my head. At what? Love makes no judgments and ascribes no blame. Love reaches to heal if a way can be found to let Her in. 
   There are no medications to treat the loneliness and low self-image that led this mother of five to drug abuse. The only hope for the six people in this story lies in finding the healing power that only Love can bring.
   Sorrow is bearable if we know Love lives nearby. Without Love, sorrow is truly a tragedy.

-Erie Chapman