Summer has “unofficially” begun here in the states, as we celebrate Memorial Day. It’s a long holiday weekend for many, accompanied by food and festivities. The day itself has been set aside to remember those who have given their lives in service to the nation. In some of our subcultures, it involves remembering all who have died during the past year, for any reason. So pausing to remember those who have died is what we “say” we do this weekend.
What most of us really do, is eat way too much and loaf way too much and maybe party way too much. As is the case with most of our holidays, at least here in the US, holidays are often first and foremost, about food. But food preparation is a gesture of compassion. When someone comes to visit, we offer them food, to refresh them from their journey. When someone dies, often we take food to the family, so they won’t have to concern themselves with this bodily need during a time of profound grief which can be so disabling. Even the day-to-day preparation of food within a family is a symbolic way of conveying love for those we care about most.
Compassion can be interpreted to mean “to feel with another,” usually in instances of unpleasantness. To have compassion for someone means to care deeply and fully about them and their experiences, and to act upon that caring. Maybe it means, to Be There. If we think about what we need in our times of distress, that is what we should be offering others. And yes, it requires effort on our part.
The Christian Bible tells us, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). As I write those words, I am compelled to ask myself, what, exactly, do I think is worth giving my life for? And I am reminded of all those people who have donated bodily organs so that another can live. I am reminded of the many selfless acts of compassion that I have read about, and I think that idea of self-less-ness is, for me, what compassion is all about. It is about forgetting ourselves and doing for others, whether they live in the same house or just on the same planet.
Or, what is it that I think is important to give my life TO? You know, those things like, leaving the world a better place than I found it? Like helping to heal the planet? Like caring for people? Like righting wrongs done to others, even if they don’t directly affect me?
I challenge us this week to come up with ways to extend our compassion, for people and in ways that we might not ordinarily do so.
“For what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8)
by Diane Foley
Copyright (c) 2011
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