Jan 01
Compassion is the beginning of everything!
In "The Idiot," Dostoevsky wrote that "compassion is the most important and perhaps the only law of life for all mankind." In recent times, the story of the anthropologist Margaret Mead has gained strength, who suggested that the first sign of civilization was a healed femur, that is, a sign of care and compassion. The femur is the longest bone in the body and connects the hip to the knee. In societies without the benefits of modern medicine, it takes about six weeks of rest for a fractured femur to heal. A healed femur shows that someone took care of the injured person, did his part, and picked him/her up, stayed with him/her and offered her physical protection and human companionship until the wound could heal. It all started with compassion!
The Good Samaritan, protagonist of the Gospel (Lk 10, 25-37), is the teacher of compassion. For Jesus, closeness is the heart of the Kingdom of God!
Three attitudes of the Samaritan translate what compassion means in practice:
1. See: the priest and the Levite had lost the ability to see. The other had become invisible, his suffering had naturalized (become normal). The Samaritan, on the other hand, continues to watch intently;
2. Stop: It is necessary to dedicate time and this is a choice. The Levites and Samaritans of our day can find the excuse in "I have many things to do." Compassion requires stopping, which is more, much more, than feeling sorry;
3. Touch: it is the approach par excellence! It is the moment when compassion is assumed as a sharing of pain, assuming the other's pain as mine!
If the first sign of humanity was compassion and care, it is not possible to think of a new humanity, reconciled and peaceful, without compassion, without that commitment of each one with others, especially with those who have fallen by the wayside !
Fr. Maicon