My dharma friend, Maia, at The Jizo Chronicles sent out a call for us to engage fully in helping with the various aspects of the disaster following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  In her post today, she quotes one of the Upaya Chaplaincy candidates, Penny Alsop, whose words are too powerful to ignore:

Send your love. Take action anywhere that you can. Look at those pictures of oil covered animals and let it break your heart then take the next steps that make sense to you. Just please do not forget.

Look.  And let it break your heart.  Our practice as engaged Buddhists – and there is no other type – is to do just that (in the words of Joanna Macy): look, let it break our hearts, and then go forth with linked arms.  Maia listed many ways to help in her post.  Barry from Ox Herding also listed a number of sites that are involved in rescue and collecting donations.

On the news today, the predictions are that it will take another three months before interventions might stop the flow.  So much will be lost by then.  Please consider reaching out with anything you have, in any way you can.  It’s been a non-stop run of disasters and I know we are all feeling like we’re caught in an unending series of demands.  Yet I think finally we are allowing ourselves to be faced with real life.  Perhaps we are finally growing up and stepping up to the plate.

Let`s not squander this chance to fulfill our vow,

Genju