Dear Creator,
Outside my window, the day is bright and beautiful.
Yet, in a different part of the world, there is fear, pain, and suffering, and people have hurt other people.
This happens every day, everywhere, we are told. We are shown images of war and terror, and we are informed that this is the way of things. We are told this is to be expected, that it’s unavoidable. We are told this is normal.
I have thoughts about this. An opinion some people won’t agree with. They could characterize me and my ideas as naïve and unrealistic. Perhaps dangerously so. These people might classify me as unqualified to interject an opinion.
Well, I am a citizen of our global community, and as such, I believe my viewpoint does matter; my consciousness has a weight and matters, in the same way that my vote matters.
I think of my wife, who is a teacher, and the community of her classroom. She puts a priority on developing that community, educating her students on their responsibilities as citizens of the community. She models respect, understanding, and compassion. Treating others how you wish to be treated, and considering how you would feel if others treated you as you treat them.
When somebody acts with disrespect or anger, she does not tolerate it. But, she also does not condemn. She sees someone who is in distress and lacking a healthy strategy or solution. She is clear that the behavior is unacceptable, but she works to help the student understand and articulate the thoughts and feelings that drive the behavior, and create better strategies and solutions.
Now, I am not intending to speak for my wife. It is solely my creation to equate the classroom community to our global community.
There has been a lot of opinion generated recently about how Donald Trump’s rhetoric runs in opposition to the values that parents and teachers strive to instill in their kids. I find myself considering that classroom community – if there was a child who was disrespectful or mean, the solution wouldn’t be to tell the other kids to be afraid of this child. That would increase the feeling of alienation and division. Nor would the solution be to organize the other kids to bully and attempt to defeat the other child, because that only teaches the lesson that when you are perceived as different and are not understood, you don’t belong; again increasing the sense of alienation and division.
When I completed my life coach training and passed the certification process, I received the certificate from Martha Beck that hangs on my wall. Included on that certificate is the Hafiz quote –
“Troubled? Then stay with me, for I am not.”
I think this is the crux of the solution.
I think each of us, in our lifetime, have times where we are troubled, and times where we are the untroubled.
What I find so powerfully absent from the Hafiz quote is the idea that the one who is not troubled should judge the other’s troubles to decide whether they are valid or worthy. There is no mention of judgment, because that would again lead down the road to alienation and division.
I do not need to know why you hurt to offer you compassion. When I am troubled, I hope I can stay with you, regardless of why I am troubled.
Live a life striving for inclusion rather than exclusion. We are all troubled. Let’s find comfort with each other. As Ram Dass put it –
“We’re all just walking each other home.”
Today, I offer you this prompt:
Please sit for five minutes and meditate on the Hafiz quote. After your sit, I offer for you to write down your reflections – how you felt and what you experienced.
Please guide me, Dear Spirits, in a Life of Compassion and Community, heading home!
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