“Compassion” is another one of the words that have been floating thru my mind as of late.

One of the suggestions in our writing class was “Forgiveness.” And in the midst of thinking about all of the ways that we forgive, or try to forgive ourselves as well as others, the word “compassion” just kept sneaking in.

When we are young it seems so natural to hold a grudge against someone that we perceive to have harmed us, or our loved ones.  Anger seems to hold sway over common sense and we often glory in our anger. But as we get older, need I say, actually “old”, anger can take its toll. Knowing that we are “right” and someone or something else is “wrong” doesn’t seem to work as well as it used to.

And sometimes it even begins to seep into our souls, that we weren’t always right either, that maybe we held grudges.  Maybe we even read thoughts into someone else’s comments that weren’t intended.

The younger people who we disagree with, how do we know what life’s experiences have brought them? Maybe life hasn’t always treated them as well as it could have. Their generation and the ones following it have had to cope with a whole different set of problems than we have. We do not always agree with our own generation, but we have all had different experiences and expectations.

I think it is time for all of us to walk the mile in the other persons shoes! Realize that life isn’t always fair, but it is what we have got, and we have to pull together or be torn asunder, as the old saying goes.

I find that as I age a lot more people are looking at me with compassion. The first few times I got called “dearie” and, “sweetie”, I laughed! Why did all these people think I was “old”? Little did they know what was inside of me, I thought.

But as time has gone on I find that I am being looked at with, you guessed it, “compassion.” I feel I am doing my part to help make the world better, by smiling back and realizing I am helping them to feel compassion for others.  And that is a good thing.

We are all here to help each other enjoy life, so go for it, people. Call me sweetie or dearie, open the door for me, I don’t care, I  love it.  And I will do it for you, wherever I can.