Compassion

Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human...It is not surprising that compassion, understood as suffering with, often evokes in us a deep resistance and even protest. We are inclined to say, "This is self-flagellation, this is masochism, this is morbid interest in pain, this is a sick desire." It is important for us to acknowledge this resistance and to recognize that suffering is not something we desire or to which we are attracted. On the contrary, it is something we want to avoid at all cost. Therefore, compassion is not among our most natural responses. We are pain-avoiders and we consider anyone who feels attracted to suffering abnormal, or at least very unusual.        ~Henri Nouwen

Compassion comes quite naturally to me, and sometimes i can recognize that this is a gift. Other times i feel the deep craziness and abnormality.

This quote is a very helpful reminder about what i want to be about and why.