Even Your Enemies

"You cannot confine your benevolence to your own group;

you must have concern for everybody ... even your enemies."

Karen Armstrong

Our lives would be quite different if we had been offered compassion for the challenges we faced, failed, or conquered during our lifetime.  Imagine being 'heard' or 'seen' when lost in the sea of emotions, bobbing around in tumultuous waters consumed with uncontrollable fear.

It is not a desire to have a person fix us or to assume our lesson.  It is the need to be understood and to be listened to.  When we are given the opportunity to regurgitate our sorrow, we become an empty vessel to begin to heal once again.

If we allow our selves to be present, to truly listen without judgment, we are offering an individual the opportunity to learn.  Why not embrace the whole, to correct mishaps as it happens rather than allow poor choices to build into hazardous reactions.  This is not about condoning or approving lesser than actions, but about seeing each other in an environment of learning.