“How could you stand all that blood? People dying and body parts mangled up,” my friends would ask kindheartedly referring to the trauma surgeries.
“It did bother me a lot in the beginning, but numbness sets in, then you don’t think twice anymore.”
What a sad excuse, I realized.
The same danger exists for watching prolonged showing of images and footages of disaster. Overexposure decreases sensitivity. Unfortunately, the next time around, it has to be more horrific to arouse the same shock and indignation.
Is this not an adaptive behavior? Is it completely unavoidable?
Prophet Zechariah warned of this desensitizing effect:
This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.” But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. (Zechariah 7:9-12 NIV)
Evil and social injustice, like personal sin, all become more acceptable and tolerable the second time around.
How do I refuse to become numbed to evil? Compassion, the Word of God, and a conscience frequently quickened by the Holy Spirit seem to be the only antidote.
Let’s not let the repeated exposure to these horrors decrease our sensitivities and rob us of our horror and revulsion at such loss of life. Instead, let’s reach out in compassion to touch and bless.
© 2001, Dr. Jeff Lee, MD. Used by permission from http://www.idevote.org
Title: "Numbed to Evil"
Author: Dr. Jeff Lee, MD
Publication Date: September 20, 2001
Numbed to Evil
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