Compassion

Mary Warren says "We must all love each other now" as she hands over a hand-made poppet to Elizabeth Proctor, shortly before Elizabeth is taken in to custody for suspected witchery in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Mary was an official of the court (basically, served jury and witness duty) and was frightened by the revelations in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. She made the poppet in an attempt to, not only pass the time in court, but also to make peace with her employer.

It is a golden lesson that needs to be reinforced daily, whether it be the 1690s, the 1950s, or the early 2000s. We must all love each other. Now. Compassion is, at times, a scarce commodity in our society. It is truly horrifying to contemplate the number of people who decide that their id is more important than their ego or superego. They want to give in to their impulses, to satisfy urges that should not be given in to lightly when the community, as a whole, is taken in to consideration.

We recently had an Amber Alert in our community. The young girl, age 12, was missing for nearly a week after her mother was found murdered. She's been found, but at what cost? She is now orphaned, her world is turned upside down, and communities spend heaven knows how much money searching for her. All because the man who took her gave in to his id.

About a month ago, our school held a presentation for Rachel's Challenge. It was truly a beautiful presentation not only because it helped the memory of this brave young lady carry on, but because it also touched many of the kids in our school. Several students from the class I accompanied to the auditorium broke down in tears. Many in the school did due to circumstances in their own lives, but a few because they saw, in themselves, that which needed to be changed to make the community a better place to live. We can only wait and see how long the change will last, but it was a nice awakening for the students, regardless of how short-lived it may be.

Certainly not lastly, as many changes need to be made in our communities, our nation, our world, but to close this entry out, compassion is needed in my own life. Someone I am very close to is suffering from a terminal illness. This is a huge adjustment for our family as we try to fathom the changes that are taking place within this person's mind. It is difficult to put aside our preconceived idea of what behavior should occur on a daily basis and to accept that certain common sense activities and behaviors are no longer present. It is an exercise in compassion on my part to acquiesce to not having things go the way I want them to, and allowing a little more chaos in to my life. I cannot control everything. I've done a good job allowing the controlling to subside some since having a child - but I need to move aside more.

For the sake of my family and this person, I am striving, every day, to let go, to enjoy the time we have with this person, and to ensure that Sydney is able to make some mem0ries that he will, hopefully, retain into his later childhood. But it is unfortunate that not everyone in the family is responding this way. Compassion is needed for this person, as the disease has taken over the mind. I pity the members who do not realize what gifts this person brought to us over the years, and worry that they may regret not being more compassionate in years to come.