| The tragedy of war, intractable conflict, and loss feels like it is everywhere, a daunting reminder of the words of Alice Walker that “war is old it has not become wise.” Hatred perpetuates itself and yet there are the forces of compassion, kindness, and love that can and must prevail. The poet, Naomi Shihab Nye, speaks of an enduring power, the ‘tender gravity of kindness’ that opens us to our suffering and to the suffering of others. To know war is to know peace, to know grief is to know love, to know hatred is to know kindness. Surely our hearts are shattered, broken open by the loss of life, for life under siege of war, natural disaster, and violence. This is a time when I am called to hold all this and more, and to believe that as Nye says, ‘it is kindness that makes sense anymore.’ It is a time especially now to keep compassion alive. |
| How are you holding the paradox of war and peace, love and loss, kindness and hatred? How do you keep compassion alive today, now? |
