Compassion for the Struggling on April 1, 2020

“Extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human security everywhere.” 
~ Kofi Annan

Anyone who has experienced or witnessed a jarring total loss of resources, whether over time or suddenly, no matter how it has occurred, knows just how challenging this is for the human spirit.  It impacts everything, including a person's health, particularly if it persists.  It impacts families.  It impacts neighborhoods.   It impacts civilizations.  It impacts the entire world.

My heart is with those today who find themselves suddenly without the ability to pay their basic bills, including those who have managed to do so all of their lives, and jarringly find themselves in a truly horrendous situation. Even with a little help, once people are placed in this situation, it can be astonishingly difficult to catch up.  It does not diminish our compassion for those who are ill or whose health is vulnerable to be expanding our consideration to everyone whose health and well-being are in jeopardy.  This is what it means to be balanced, thoughtful and wise.  And nobody is saying the entirety of the situation we face is easy to address.

 

Migrant Mother, 1936 (Public Domain)

If you haven't lived it, if you think your bank or credit card accounts have more than enough to cover your needs, if you feel you securely have a roof over your heads and are staying in place in relative comfort, perhaps it is difficult to conceive just how jarring this feels to your neighbors.  I have repeated that word "jarring" three times so far, and there's a reason.  It can shake a person down to one's foundations, like an earthquake.  A spiritual path is helpful, for sure, in these times, but please let's not forget the people who are genuinely and very suddenly struggling, or those who have struggled for a long time, and now things are far worse.

And as to our path forward, sociologists and historians know just how important it is to be balanced in what comes next.  Unfortunately, they haven't apparently been consulted already in the decisions being made.  It is not lacking compassion to be seriously thinking about all of the devastating impacts of what is happening, both short and long term. 

Where will expansive compassion, far-seeing wisdom and true courage lead?  We have much to be reflecting upon, and the answers aren't simple.  Fear can push and it can prod, but it rarely holds the answers we really need to see.  Strictly "clinical" or isolated quantitative observation may tell us a few things, but tunnel vision is blind.  We need balance and deeply thoughtful direction and we need it soon.