Post by nina on Aug 5, 2006 5:06:40 GMT -5
Just sharing....
"And that is what compassion does: it simply says hello, with kindness and grace. And because of this compassion is never a burden to whom it is directed. Compassion is always welcome.
It relieves the sick or bereaved from the need to care for the visitor. It relieves the one who is burdened from the added burden of being a source of burden to the other. For compassion comes simply to say hello, to be a companion in whatever circumstance presents itself.
Compassion has come to simply listen or laugh, to accompany whatever is taking place without expectation or the need to make things better. Because compassion believes that things are as they are meant to be. And it believes that all circumstance can be shared. Thus, compassion, when it enters, usually banishes loneliness, and if not, it accompanies the lonely in their solitude.
Compassion can sit with the dying in silence, or with one giving birth, marveling equally in the miracle taking place. Compassion can join in suffering, accepting pain as a part of life. Compassion can jump into action, if action is called for and desired.
Compassion can give to the poor or help heal the sick, without condescension or judgment or lack of respect.
And if these qualities of compassion seem Divine, it is because they are. And the only hope of ever calling this quality one's own is to remember that it is in the image of the Divine that we are created.
And if ever you are fortunate enough to be in the presence of compassion, you will barely notice it, so natural does it seem -- as natural as God's hidden presence, noticeable only if you look."
"And that is what compassion does: it simply says hello, with kindness and grace. And because of this compassion is never a burden to whom it is directed. Compassion is always welcome.
It relieves the sick or bereaved from the need to care for the visitor. It relieves the one who is burdened from the added burden of being a source of burden to the other. For compassion comes simply to say hello, to be a companion in whatever circumstance presents itself.
Compassion has come to simply listen or laugh, to accompany whatever is taking place without expectation or the need to make things better. Because compassion believes that things are as they are meant to be. And it believes that all circumstance can be shared. Thus, compassion, when it enters, usually banishes loneliness, and if not, it accompanies the lonely in their solitude.
Compassion can sit with the dying in silence, or with one giving birth, marveling equally in the miracle taking place. Compassion can join in suffering, accepting pain as a part of life. Compassion can jump into action, if action is called for and desired.
Compassion can give to the poor or help heal the sick, without condescension or judgment or lack of respect.
And if these qualities of compassion seem Divine, it is because they are. And the only hope of ever calling this quality one's own is to remember that it is in the image of the Divine that we are created.
And if ever you are fortunate enough to be in the presence of compassion, you will barely notice it, so natural does it seem -- as natural as God's hidden presence, noticeable only if you look."