Cathy Sakiyama

This Is Not A News Item

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Cathy Sakiyama is a Professional Affiliate of the Psychologists’ Association of Alberta. Over time she has focused on counseling women and has found that current issues often relate back to families of origin. She has training in personality framework, healing through prayer counseling, and the remarkable design of the nervous system. She enjoys speaking on topics related to emotional healing and continues to be grateful for the privilege of witnessing healing in her clients. She and her husband live in Saanichton, BC and have two adult children pursuing education and careers in other provinces.

I have always liked clicking on the news at 5 or 6 pm and seeing what is happening off our small island in Canada. A while back, there was a horrible earthquake in Nepal that killed thousands and injured more.  And while I might have seen this as a problem ‘over there’, my sister was in contact with many of the survivors for months and even still, having lived for 20 years in Kathmandu.

This is not a news item.

A whale watching boat capsized near Tofino killing six and leaving Jamie’s Whaling Station to wonder what went wrong. This might have been something too distant to touch us in Victoria, but our family had used Jamie’s for a kayaking trip the summer before. And the heartbreak of the staff was impossible to miss. These are not uncaring operators out there. These are people who have been hit with the worst possible news: people were killed while on your vessel. And the media is all over it.

This is not a news item.

More recently: shocking attacks in Paris, the bombs going off in such common gathering places. Less than two months ago, a friend had posted pictures of her son and new wife in front of the Eiffel tower, joyful and carefree on their much anticipated honeymoon … in the midst of people with happy and expectant faces, going about their lives just as we all do. Unaware.

This is not a news item.

A client’s husband does not leave the house as requested. His recently disclosed crime is years old but the possibility of repeat is ever-present and we ask that he live elsewhere to keep the minors safe from harm. His wife is heartbroken; this is not what she imagined when taking her vows years ago. It is a mess, him with unhealed scars bringing that woundedness into his own family. He is not a monster; he’s just broken.

This is not a news item.

Unless we have a face for the ‘crime’ or the accident, it is easy and almost sensible to keep a distance from the devastating things that occur daily around the globe. It happens in our neighbourhood, or on our island, or in another country that we have ties to. Continuing to be human involves the difficult awareness that this harm could have happened to me or my loved ones AND the harm could easily and unintentionally have been done with my hands, or the hands of others I love.

That is the humility required of us. There but for the grace …  No room for arrogance or a naïve sense of blamelessness. Given the right (or horribly wrong) set of circumstances, we are all very able to be the victim or messenger of pain. This fact could result in us living in fear and with a sense of dread about when the other shoe will fall. Ideally though, it should give us huge humility and thankfulness that we are not in the midst of the storm. AND great compassion for those who are.

 

Cathy Sakiyama_featuredCathy Sakiyama, M.Ed.
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