Jason was sharing about a woman who continues to hurt herself so she can receive medication… she’s addicted to pain killers. Rather than go in with the attitude “Here we are once again! What did you do to yourself this time?” he considers the abuses and pain that she’s endured and have brought her to such desperate measures. Instead of looking down on her or annoyed with having to help once again, he treats her with such tenderness, care and compassion that it brings me to tears.
One of his guys was training at a hospital… In the midst of a very hectic day was a woman dying; she no family, no friends. The nurses were stressing over everything that needed to be done and were called to be elsewhere, so the woman is left alone to die. This guy asks permission to take his lunch break… he goes and sits with this woman and holds her hand while she dies… she isn’t alone. On top of this, he tells no one… not even in the department. They read about it in the paper that he received an award for his compassionate act.
So, how might we be challenged? There are many people in the course of our day that annoy us, seek our attention, get in our way, or go unnoticed and are desperate for our attention, but we’re so pre-occupied doing our thing and don’t want to be bothered. What if we started looking at each other, really noticing each other… what if we stop resenting those who interrupt us, who don’t give us the time of day, who talk about us behind our backs or treat us coldly… we haven’t a clue as to what they have been through and are going through. Instead of being annoyed or disregarding them, instead of thinking of what WE want or how we are being inconvenienced or hurt, let us offer them our tenderness, care and compassion in our thoughts and through our actions. At home, at work, at the store, let us look beyond ourselves and open our eyes and hearts to notice those who are alone or are hurting and reach out in some caring and compassionate way.
And what if we do all this without telling anyone? Sue Levesque