Compassion is the sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what
it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It's the knowledge that there
can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy
finally for you too. ”
Frederick
Buechner
____________________________________________________
they sat on the bench
two old souls
wrinkled by the sun
baked brown by the heat
even in the warmth of California
they bore the weight of coats
several sizes too large
layered
a buffer perhaps against not only the cold
but the harshness of a world
which has shoved them to the margins
almost invisible
they were surrounded by bags
dozens of them scattered on the side walk
and stacked between them
a fortification courtesy of Walmart and Safeway
one eagerly tore at rolls rescued from
a dumpster death
eating eagerly
until
she seemed to notice for the first time
her beleaguered neighbor
then without a word
she passed a roll across
the wall that divided
eyes and hands touched
and they both
smiled
~~~
empathy
love
call it what you will
it is the power
that created
the power that shapes this world
the power that shaped us
into the divine image
and shapes us still
giving us the capacity to see others (all others)
feel for others
connect with others
give to others
it is the power that enable us to understand
at that deep down
soul level
“that there can never really be any peace and joy for me
until there is peace and joy finally for you too.”
it is what gives us the capacity
to reach out
with whatever we have in our hand
(or heart)
And give
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