There is a psychological condition known as “compassion fatigue.” Sometimes referred to as the negative cost of caring, it is characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion leading to a diminished ability to empathize or feel compassion for others.
Yet, as a community, we know that exercising our compassion ultimately strengthens us, and expressing compassion for others is at the heart of what is right in today’s world.
I like the story of a family that was living in cramped quarters. Good fortune struck, and they were able to move into a much larger home. Someone asked the ten-year-old boy in the family how he liked his new house. He said, “I like it a lot. Now I have a room all to myself, and so do each of my sisters.” Then he paused for a moment and said, “But I feel sorry for mom. She still has to stay in dad’s room.”
Although he misunderstood the situation, it was clear that the little boy was expressing a genuine feeling of compassion for his mom. I think his father would have appreciated the innocent humor tucked away in such sincere sentiments.
There is also a French play with a passage in it that might be a bit haunting if you let yourself think about it for a while. In the play all the good people are at the gates of Heaven on the day of judgment. The gates are about to be opened, and the good folks can hardly wait to get in. And then a rumor starts. Even at the gates of heaven, it seems, rumors start. Someone says, “He is going to forgive those others too!”
There is also a French play with a passage in it that might be a bit haunting if you let yourself think about it for a while. In the play all the good people are at the gates of Heaven on the day of judgment. The gates are about to be opened, and the good folks can hardly wait to get in. And then a rumor starts. Even at the gates of heaven, it seems, rumors start. Someone says, “He is going to forgive those others too!”
For a moment, the people clamoring at the gates are utterly dumbfounded, speechless. Then they look at each other and start to gasp and sputter in disbelief, all trying to talk at the same time: “After all the trouble I went through!” “If only I had known this, things sure would have been different!”
Some the would-be Pearly Gates entrants are so worked up by the realization that God will also have compassion on those others that they begin to curse Him. And in that instant, they are damned.
Some the would-be Pearly Gates entrants are so worked up by the realization that God will also have compassion on those others that they begin to curse Him. And in that instant, they are damned.
It all came down to compassion and the so-called “good” people lost sight of it in the end, much to their eternal peril.
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