"Being Kind" is sometimes harder than you might think. Yes, it's certainly easy enough to commiserate with those whose ailments you encounter, whether physical OR mental. Beyond that, though, the HARD part is getting past our own divisions, wherein it is easier to demonize than to understand. As the late Gerald Kersh wrote, "There are men whom one hates until a certain moment when one sees, through a chink in their armor, the writhing of something nailed down and in torment.” Being kind to these poor abject souls is difficult, until one can sympathize/empathize and/or understand where they are coming from. This lack of awareness in our fellow human beings is, I believe, the main source of many of our social and cultural divisions. We tend to see in black-and-white, when REALITY is grey.
"Being Kind" is sometimes harder than you might think. Yes, it's certainly easy enough to commiserate with those whose ailments you encounter, whether physical OR mental. Beyond that, though, the HARD part is getting past our own divisions, wherein it is easier to demonize than to understand. As the late Gerald Kersh wrote, "There are men whom one hates until a certain moment when one sees, through a chink in their armor, the writhing of something nailed down and in torment.” Being kind to these poor abject souls is difficult, until one can sympathize/empathize and/or understand where they are coming from. This lack of awareness in our fellow human beings is, I believe, the main source of many of our social and cultural divisions. We tend to see in black-and-white, when REALITY is grey.
True enough. And sometimes that chink in the armor of others is what we most fear in ourselves.