There is a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world today. Especially if you look at it in light of where society has been, and how history has led us to where we are right now. It's really dreadful, and I think the knee jerk reaction for a lot of the people who have recognized this downward spiral has been to duck, to run for spiritual cover, to turtle-up.
So many do this, and so many suffer for it. If we don't face the problem head-on, if we don't put ourselves out there for what we believe in, and for what we want, we miss something. Something big.
One of my favorite passages of scripture has always been: One gives freely yet grows all the richer while another withholds what he could give and only suffers want {Proverbs 11:24}. I think it's sort of like a promise from God: if we invest ourselves, if we get involved, we won't end up with less than we started. Perhaps our wallets will be a little bit lighter, or our hearts a little bit heavier, but we will have lived! We will have done what we could. We will have seized the day!
I recently found a verse that seems kind of parallel to the one above: Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. {Prov. 14:4} It just feels to me like this verse, in analogous Bible-times jargon, is telling us that if we don't make the investment, if we don't take the risk, we are not going to end up with anything. Putting oneself out there, whether by helping someone, or by joining an intermediate art class, or by going after your dream job, or by sharing what you know to be truth, is like asking God for something to be a part of: something to bring crops, though it may dirty your manger.
Running from a problem, individual, nation-wide, or even world-wide gets you nothing but disconnected from the people around you. We can't all run. And we shouldn't. World hunger is never going to end. Children will always go without education. Some people will never have shoes. Don't go your whole life without encountering problems that seem to big to be overcome.

God doesn't need us, but he lets us sink our hands in. {Andrew Osenga}

There's so much blessing in hurt. There's so much to learn from turmoil. Great joy comes after great sorrow. True love springs from death. Suffering unites us.
Shallow emotions are not enough for me. I want to feel so deeply that every tear I see resonates in my soul. I want brokenness so profound that nothing short of the hand of God can repair my contrite heart.

weep for death. laugh for life.