Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Meaning of Compassion

There is a lesson in this that most of us are still trying to learn, from families to the world stage, to how we treat other living things on our planet:
“Twice in my life I have experienced deep depression. Both times various friends tried to rescue me with well-intended encouragement and advice….
In the midst of my depression I had a friend who took a different tack. Every afternoon at around four o’clock he came to me, sat me in a chair, removed my shoes, and massaged my feet. He hardly said a word, but he was there, he was with me. He was a lifeline for me, a link to the human community and thus to my own humanity. He had no need to ‘fix’ me. He knew the meaning of compassion.”
- Parker J. Palmer in The Active Life

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