“An enemy is a person whose story you do not know.” ~Irene Butter
We all know the status of our currently hostile nation – it feels as though you can’t make it through a single speech or read an article or engage in a conversation with friends that doesn’t somehow touch on polarizing topics or divisive politics. The focus is on our differences instead of our shared humanity.
It’s all too easy to blame other people, other groups, and other political parties for the endless strife in our world – civil wars, famines, natural disasters, school shootings, homelessness, environmental destruction – just as it’s easy to blame others who play some role in our personal narratives of failed relationships, unsatisfying work, and family strain.
Suffice it to say, compassion is all but gone and the golden rule that we were taught so innocently as children feels as though it died along with our childhoods.
I could readily spin this into some narrative about that person, that group, or that organisation causing the “problem”. But I’m going to let you in on the secret to this post ahead of time… spoiler alert, they aren’t the problem, I am. Whoever or whatever I find myself blaming aren’t the real sources of the problem, I AM… and so are you.
I hope by the end of this, a small part of what I am saying resonates with you as a means for a cure rather than another recipe for guilt and shame.
Continue reading
Labels:
compassion, radical_compassion,
No comments:
Post a Comment