Walk a mile

Every day, it seems that the empathy deficit grows. 

So many seem to have lost the ability to imagine ourselves in someone else's shoes...to think "What would be helpful if I was in their place?" rather than "They made their bed, so they should lie in it." 

We blame people for illness, dismissing their disease with explanations rather than looking for root causes. 

We speculate about how someone "with everything" could be in despair so deep that death comes as a relief. 

We turn away from the pleas of families who want their children to be safe wherever they are.

It is so easy find ways to separate ourselves from "the other" that we don't recognize "the other" in ourselves. 

Not one of us is immune to being rocked by the human experience.  Not one of us will get through this life without being scathed and scarred by something. 

Who would you be if, instead of being born where you were,  you were born somewhere else?

Who would you be if, instead of being born with the complexion you have, you were born lighter or darker?

Who would you be if, suddenly, you weren't who you thought you were? Suddenly disabled? Suddenly unprotected? Suddenly vulnerable? 

Who would you be if the bottom fell out through your action, or inaction, or no fault of your own?

Imagine that. Then think about what you would expect from your fellow travelers. 

Minimally, you'd probably expect compassion, if not understanding.  You'd probably want human connection and response rather than bureaucracy and generalizations about people like you.  You would want someone to hear what you say.  You would want someone to see you. 

Can't we muster up just a little bit of our humanity for our fellow travelers?  Just a bit?  In service of a kinder world; a world we would like to shelter US in our despair?