Mental pull

I have a dilemma.....Do I bird the west coast or the east coast? That is a struggle I have. You see....to bird I feel I need to bring along my bins. My binoculars become an extension of who I am. A birder....  
Wow….interesting dilemma. But how about this one.....I feel guilty as well, as here I sit in my country and listen to what is going on in Ukraine, or let’s not forget Afghanistan or the majority of Africa…In perspective, my worries are nothing as compared to that of life itself, as defined by attempting to live in other parts of the world. But sadly, as one is aside, far away….not connected to the suffering existing by someone else, be it in Ukraine or just down the street from me, as humans you see….we have really no capacity to do. We can appreciate and we can understand…we can object or cry out or give money or or or or, but bottom line is that here, it does little good for the results. Life just moves one.
What can I do is to continue to live my life knowing that life is so ever fleeting. I can live my life in the disguise of pretending that nothing is going on someplace else. I can live my life knowing that I walk the street while others cannot. I live my life simply by being aware of how others are forced to live and cope with their lives. I don’t have the political power or money or ability to change as history unfolds. That is where the guilt lies. How to live a life knowing that others have no choice in their suffering.
Yet is today any different from yesterday? Is today’s ‘self-guilt’ and inabilty to act any different from what happened in some country or down the street; 5 years ago, or 20 or? No, it doesn’t work that way. But I managed to live and make it thru life so far and again, what actions have I taken to ‘save the world’? Must I turn a blind eye to what occurs knowing that I can’t do anything about it anyhow? Or, do I ‘do something about it, knowing that it really doesn’t do any good, but I ‘act’ …I put forth some action, just because morally I know I should? Wow….quite the dilemma.
I simply don’t know…..I do know that how I live my life and what I do to help those around me, where I might have some influence or sphere of control, is what I should, can, must do. I can’t help what is being conducted in Ukraine today, but I can help my family as opposed to not thinking about helping them. I can help a neighbor as opposed to only thinking of my side of the fence. I can help my community. I can help where my ‘zone’ matches up to the zone in need of help. And that is what I do. No, as stated, it doesn’t help Ukraine or the like, but my actions do help myself cope with myself.