What Happened? The Bethany Storro case.

A beautiful 28-year-old was thrown acid in her face as she was celebrating her new job at night.  This is the woman that suffered partial hearing loss since her childhood and just days earlier had her sister being married.

The whole nation was shocked and community rallied to support.  And she showed great strength by appearing on Good Morning America, her head covered in gauze and her parents on her sides.  In her own words “I can’t let what she did to me…wreck my life”. 

As media and psychologists speculate the motivation behind the attack (substance abuse, gang activities, and the like) that occurred on September 30 and law enforcement working hard to find the black woman with a ponytail that committed the crime, news broke that it was a hoax and the acid attack was self-inflicted.  And I’m sure if you do a search on “Bethany Storro” today, that’s all you get.

I’d leave the decision of possible prosecution to the appropriate Prosecuting Attorney's Office and the condemnation to the outraged people around the world.  What keeps me thinking is WHAT REALLY HAPPED?

It’s as if one gets sick, physically, when he/she lets his/her body goes through physical abuse, such as not enough rest, too much work, not eating right, etc..  So, what has happened internally that has caused someone to commit such painful attack on herself?  I don’t know if you caught what the father was saying on the news conference: “we are a closely-knit” family.  It’s the same pair of parents that are in shock right now that their daughter are in such mental condition to hurt herself.

I’m by no means trying to be wise or smart or pretend to know the cause of this “self-attack”.  My gut tells me that something deep inside is ill.  I just keep asking myself: what really happened…

I’d love that you shed some light on this incident.

Happiness Is Made Up of Simple Things in Life

Who would have argued that one (if not the only one) of the goals of spending this lifetime on this earth is pursuit of happiness?

Speaking of “pursuit”, it involves action, cognizant action.  For me, it’s a “soul searching” process that made me realize that I’m happy when I’m surrounded by good-hearted, caring people and when I’m able to give in ways of helping others, be it financially, physically or spiritually (please also read here and here to see how others are saying about happiness). 

Until I got sick a few weeks ago, another light bulb went up.  You see, I’ve been blessed to have inherited good genes.  So, I rarely get sick.  But, unless one lives in a vacuum, there stands a chance of catching illness from (even) the good-hearted, caring people that surround you.

So I came down with a cold/flu and was patiently waiting for the full cycle of the virus to go by, the sore throat, the running nose, the stuffy nose…

That’s it, the stuffy nose was what got me philosophical. 

I don’t know how much of me qualifies as a gourmand.  But I do LOVE food, all kinds of interesting food.  My husband used to say that he enjoys watching me take my time with all my meals.  And I am not sure how much of my love for food contributes to my husband’s decision to marry me.

So anyway, when the time comes, I realized that my favorite food in front of me tasted nothing but salty or sweet.  I did not have the ability to sense the flavors, the richness of the liver, the aroma from the fruits…  If you are a gourmand, you’d understand my disappointment.  To me, life was all of sudden black and white. 

Since then, while I was even more patiently waiting out the cold/flu cycle, I started appreciating more of what I have had in life as the “basics”, including the things that most of us were born with – the ability to see, the ability to hear, the ability to smell…  This, coincidentally agrees with what’s call the “Modern Seven Wonders of the World” (for more, please read here, here, and here). 

So, friends, when there’s a lot going on that we can’t control (do I need to remind you of the recession/depression that we are still in the middle of), we have much control in how we feel about what we’ve already got. 

So let’s celebrate this wonderful life that we’ve got, my friends, right now!