compassion ..

compassion: a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering
com-passion: passioning with someone
note both aspects of the definition; it's similar to empathy, but goes farther - it wants to relieve the suffering
.. ...    .

in recent times i've attempted to explain something of homelesslife to friends and acquaintances
it has been difficult
( and this is in no way deprecatory of those people; it is not uncommon in the western world of now )

apart from the fact that they had a difficult time grasping the concept ( i believe out of a tradition, a culture, an education, and a never-been-there mentality ), there was a denial and rationalization colouring the discussion ..
my only recourse was to provide examples, personal experiences, and stories from my homeless brothers and sisters

leading to this ..
Mark Twain made a comment - " i have never let my schooling interfere with my education " - the motivation being we can be indoctrinated by our cultural and social environment to think a certain way, believe certain things, while rejecting other think, assume this or that .. meanwhile the truth of life ( even in that very environment ) is simply not so
hence, ours is to question, investigate other sources, take a critical position and, most importantly, head heartfirst into God, the source of wisdom

the in-credible think that says because we live in 2014 we are wiser is just that
knowledge is not wisdom
our modern penchant for infobites and dreadfully briefly-stated arguments, our drive to condense so that we can consume so much more, is fraught with the danger of oversimplification and surface-engagement

there is a huge difference between knowing about something and engaging the issue with a view to some form of change in myself - the latter requires so much more
engaging a topic in order to affect any meaningful change in me deserves depth and breadth, consideration of this and that viewpoint, and should result in a challenge to our off-the-bat, knee-jerk response to a paragraph or soundbite  ..

thus, in this case, a willingness to understand homelesslife by listening first, by investigation, and by recourse to God would go far in opening my mind to the millions that live there in this country, not to mention the billions of impoverished in the world at large
to simply dismiss those people as lazy, as bums, addicted or alcoholics, insane or mentally disturbed - the intimation being that they deserve their circumstance, made their own bed to lie in - is to do massive injustice, probably on par with the inhumanity that allows for such a huge incidence of that lifecondition in the first place, and further allows that lifecondition to persist ..
it does not speak well to wisdom

further to that, to assume that i can sit here in my comfortzone and understand homelesslife is, at best, foolhardy - it smells of arrogance and judgmentalism, selfishness and a complete misunderstanding ( worse yet, dismissal ) of Jesus' primary teaching - i must love my neighbour as i love my own self

there is widom in the thought ' you can't truly understand my situation 'till you've walked a mile in my shoes '
did you think people actually choose homelesslife, like they were choosing a car or a university or a career ?
really ??
really ..
have you considered what a homeless life must be like ? as in, sat there and tried to walk yourself through some part of their day, or night ?
virtually walking in their shoes ..
and that still leaves a vast fissure in understanding, since ' virtual ' is a long-distance view

i am not being rude, nor am i castigating anyone; simply put, perhaps before we express our opinions or draw conclusions from our boxed-in point of view, we should consider compassion, particularly when it speaks to humanity in its manifestations

be wary of allowing your culture, your politics, your education, your religion, your whatever to dumb-down your inquisitivenss, your imagination, your reasoning, for the true you lies beyond that, as Twain implied

above all else, i must go to my spirit ( not mind ), where the spirit of the living God can access and bypass my own arrogance and insularity
stretching my self towards true reality


p.s. - a friend recently posted something similar to this on fb .. ' anyone has some cash i can borrow? i'm about to be evicted '
well, you could look down your long nose at them, but bear in mind this person has 30+ years in photojournalism, still employed, and was recently featured on a major network ..

p.p.s. - " It is not some religious act which makes a Christian what he or she is, but participation in the suffering of God in the life of the world. " .. bonhoeffer

p.p.p.s - " .. everything the most serious Christians would consider essential to Christan faith: the primacy of love; the demand for justice, especially towards the underprivileged; the insistence upon forgiveness ( not just once, but seventy times seven ); the equality of all human beings, without reference to race, culture, gender, and all else; above all, I think, the insistence upon a continuous and prophetic orientation toward truth and a concomitant vigilance against hypocrisy, subterfuge, and oversimplification. " .. dj hall

p.p.p.p.s. - " Christians, we have maintained, are those who through confrontation with death are given a new freedom from the sting of death and so a new freedom for voluntary service to others. ... The theology of the cross is intended to give rise not only to an ecclesiology of the cross, but to an ethic, the essence of which is the attentiveness to human and worldly suffering that is made possible in those who have been and are being delivered from self. " .. dj hall

peace to you