Open letter from a small group in Barcelona to everyone suffering from the pain of war
Dear brothers and sisters, we are a small collective called the Thinkers' Group, affiliated with the Catalan Congress of Mental Health Foundation. We meet once a month for 90 minutes, and have been doing so for 14 years, to discuss the suffering that humans experience and to think together about issues related to mental health.
Each year we propose a different theme to think about, and lately the situations affecting our environment have become the central theme of our meetings. A few years ago, we talked a lot about COVID and how it affected people's mental health.
This year's theme is War has appeared as a constant. We have needed to stop and consider this as an issue that affects us all. Images and news reach us of what is happening in Ukraine, Palestine, and other places like Syria, Sudan, Iran... A colleague from the group told us that there are more than fifty active wars around the planet. Especially in Africa. We receive no news of most of the active armed conflicts.
In last month's session, it was proposed that we let you know you are in our thoughts. We want to accompany you in the desolation that, from a distance, we know you are feeling.
None of us has lived through a war. Our parents and grandparents, yes.
We have no words that can communicate anything useful. We are dismayed and words fail us. Despite everything, we feel that letting you know that we are gathering to think of you, fumbling with some attempts to put ourselves in your shoes, might be of help. Help for you and for us.
Images are reaching us of the bombings, the destruction of buildings, the dead, the lack of food and water, the situation in the hospitals, your pain. All of this in the midst of our daily lives, which lose meaning amidst everything that is happening.
Can we create a communication system that allows us, even if we speak different languages, to send each other a message that we have in our minds and hearts?
Only We want to connect with your suffering, your loneliness, your despair, and your oblivion.. And to each of you we address this letter.
They know that political leaders, those who profit from weapons, war interests, and the reasons of all parties involved in each conflict have a responsibility. But every child, woman, and man can be in the minds and hearts of those who do not have access to high-level meetings, political offices, or the heads of mafias.
Let's think about going creating spaces for thought to other places can be beneficial for all of us. If many groups, small, medium, and large, were to think about all of you, do you believe that the energy, the echo, the vibration can reach you so that you don't feel desolate?
You know that it is a small, but necessary and possible movement. We want to share it in order to activate others and achieve a platform, thus reaching those affected with our feelings.
Thinkers Group
Barcelona, May 2, 2024
Download the letter version in Catalan, English, French, Arab i Ukrainian
