It has never been more important to remember this:
“…that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
In our mostly unconscious habit of judging and criticizing, we forget that we are all negotiating this human life in the midst of love and loss. All of us. We all have a story, a great love, a painful loss, a nagging fear. We might decide to look toward each other and remember this.
It might allow us to feel a little more compassion for each other. We might decide to believe that in the midst of it all we are doing the best we can. We might begin to notice our sameness rather than our differences…that beneath the sometimes rugged exterior of our life lies a tender heart.
It’s not easy to see that tender heart beneath hate and violence. It is not apparent in the bully, the oppressor or the tormentor. I would say these have built an immense wall around that tender heart and have lost all touch with it…even though it is nestled right there inside.
It’s not easy to see that tender heart in the other when we disagree, when we make ourselves right and the other wrong, when we are attacked or belittled. Even in these times, that tender heart is beating…in us and in them.
We never know what someone else might be experiencing on any given day. For sure each of us is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something. Can we use this bit of wisdom to treat each other more kindly?
Much love always
Paula
