“Denial is not a river in Egypt.”

One of my friends who works as a therapist once explained to me that “denial” -- either of events or of a painful situation -- is experienced by those who have turned away from something for one of two reasons: it was either too painful for them to experience for themselves or because it was too painful to see it happening to others. “In either case,” my friend would say, it must be dealt with ... denial is not a river in Egypt.”

These past few months, news reports have been full of cases of “denial.” In Europe, there is a furor over a bishop who is denying certain aspects of the Holocaust. In East Africa, there are national leaders who are denying that AIDS is a health concern. In Asia, there are political leaders who are denying that the citizens of their country are starving to death. And in America, there are those denying the destructive power of greenhouse gases or even that the U.S. economy is in serious trouble.

Perhaps, as my therapist-friend was suggesting, those in denial are just too close to the forest to see the trees. Whether it is in Europe, or Africa ... Asia or America -- maybe those who are in denial cannot bring themselves to see the truth of reality -- and the reality of the pain that is so much a part of people's lives. For too many reasons, just as pain and suffering are a part of the human condition, so is denial.

After all, it is much easier to spend a day at the river -- even if it is in Egypt.