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Today's
Meditation:
I
don't know if I agree that caring is actually a curse--I
would prefer to think of it as a blessing,
personally. But I do know that caring can cause us
more pain, and that caring can make our lives a bit more
difficult than they would be if we didn't care. But
that's what life is all about, isn't it? Life isn't
about making things as easy as possible; rather, it's
about getting the most out of the experiences that we're
going through.
The important part about caring is that it causes us to
take actions that will help others. It causes us to
be there for friends and loved ones, to pick up the litter
that we see on the street, to stop using products that
damage the planet we live on, to feel compassion for
people we've never met who are going through difficult
trials, to contribute money or time to causes that are
designed to make the world a better place.
When we care, a loved one's death can be difficult for us
to bear. When we care, we feel pain when we see the
environment destroyed or damaged, other people hurt and
mistreated, animals killed for no reason, countries caught
up in war, victims of crime and violence. But pain
is a part of life, and I would much rather feel that pain
than to feel the emptiness of the hollow existence that
not caring would cause me.
Things happen in life that cause pain. We can't
avoid them, even if we try not to care. The richness
that caring brings to our lives in the form of connections
and compassion is well worth the pain that we occasionally
will feel, and it's important that we not lose the caring
that is such a huge part of what makes us human in the
first place.
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