Bad things redux

(Continued)

 

the bad things, don’t do them

the good things, try to do them

try to purify, to subdue your own mind…

          the Buddha (via Thich Nhat Hanh)

___________________________________________

 

do no harm

primum non nocere

is not exactly found in the original Hippocratic oath (425 AD)

 

but the principle is there

"I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm".

 

and such care is important

 

we do a lot of harm

as we stumble through life

 

we have all seen the damage done by those

soaked in the ideology of power and dominance

those who must win at every cost

those who want to control and enforce

and whose only response to those they don’t like or agree with

are intimidation and retribution

 

we have seen what happens when that kind of leader

supported by angry and wounded souls

is given power

 

but simply avoiding harm is not enough

we cannot simply tiptoe through life

hoping to avoid doing harm

hope to avoid being harmed

 

for there are real problems to be solved

real wounds that need to be healed

injustice and inequity don’t just go away on their own

being bored and apathetic is no way to go through life

 

we must be people who do good

who practice love

forgiveness

compassion

 

we must not just do good

we must persist in doing good

persist when it doesn’t seem to matter

persist when it doesn’t seem to work

persist when it seems hopeless

and we feel helpless

 

do not weary of doing good

Paul admonished

for we will reap at harvest time

 

which may be another way of saying

that love wins

in the end

 

if we persist

 

this day I will have many choices

so will you

life will happen

 

and we can choose how we respond

to that person full of anger and enmity

to that person whose head has been filled with lies

to those situations which seem hopeless

 

this day let us choose to ask

what does it mean to do good

right here, right now?

what is loving

what is kind

what is (above all) redemptive?

 

we may not always succeed

in doing good

but

we

can

try

 

(to be continued)