Meditation on Compassion

 

I do not have to look very far to seeing suffering in this world.

I know that pity is not the same as compassion.

Compassion calls me to respond, to offer words, gestures, gifts.

Compassion demands something from my love, from concern.

I cannot ignore what I know.

I can only respond as best I can.

I am not perfect.

I am not a Buddha or a Christ

Yet, I can respond.

I can offer something

I can share something

I can express something that reveals a compassionate concern.

I know that my gestures for others is as nothing

Compared to the suffering in the world.

Yet, I act anyway,

Never expecting anything in return

Knowing that it is a small token

But these gestures of love

Regularly expressed reveal my humanity

Take the power out of selfishness

In addition, show that we are all connected

All in this web of life together.