Compassion

I got a very rude awakening awhile back. I will leave the finer details of what happened aside due to the fact that the point of this post is not to point out someone else’s flaws or weaknesses, but to highlight what I learned from the experience. So here we go.

I was made aware lately that someone I know, no one close, just acquaintance would be the word I’d use, was diagnosed with a potentially lethal disease. I was taken back, I am being hopeful as he is going through treatment and he seems to be in good spirit.

I had a work related situation with this person a long time ago where a colleague of mine got criticised by him and the colleague of mine took it pretty badly. But as I said it was long, long time ago…

When his illness came up in a conversation my colleagues reaction completely floored me… Let’s just say it went along the lines “serves him right”.

Now I am fully aware that people have bad days, sure I have said things in a heat of a moment that in hindsight I should have not said. But something in the moment it was said really got to me and stuck with me.

Has this world we live in gone past the point where we cannot show compassion? I know it is high and mighty of me as I am not the one who got criticised… Long time ago… But compassion is something that makes this world livable place. Compassion in my eyes is a strength, not a weakness. It is something we should embrace, it is something we should show to the worst of our enemies no matter how hard it might seem. First of all you will never know when you are down and it is only the compassion from our enemies that will stop them crushing us. But also I believe the one who does show compassion will be the last man standing.

This made me also question how I perceive the world around me. I for one would like to think we are to a certain extent responsible of the world around us. By this I mean you decide how you perceive it, if your glass is half empty or half full, the people you surround yourself with, the way you interact with others within it. There is no point in blaming others for their part if you are not willing to do your own bit first. It is so easy to blame others for the way the world is, but if we all would concentrate on the change within us first, the world would be a better place. If we took responsibility of our own actions, or the lack of them, instead of trying to blame others.

I will forgive my friend for his shortsighted comment and show him compassion by not thinking any less of him… for now.

J.P

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE