"Of all mankind's qualities, sensitivity and compassion stands as two of our greatest abilities to move closer to the hurt and need of another. A life time of learning to 'give of myself' has taught me that if we want happiness and peace in our life and in the lives of others, we must always practise compassion. By exercising this individual quality, we can widen the scope of our concern to embrace the wholesomeness of the universal self.
We are automatically hard-wired to protect those we love. True compassion, though naturally extended to our nearest and dearest, should never be denied to strangers and disasters in far away places, lest we soften its potential impact on both donor and benefactor. The paradoxical truth is that each time we give a piece of our heart, it regenerates and grows larger. Every penny from our purse we part with in pursuit of a good cause, generates more personal profit, making us far wealthier.
In short, it is only when we decide that we 'have enough' that we truly find out 'we are enough' to make a significant impact in our lifetime. It is only through developing our compassion at every opportunity, can we become spiritually of age.
Sometimes, people who exercise compassion, are referred to as being 'do gooders' by folk of less charitable thought. It is foolish to allow the badness of any person to stop you doing good work. Besides, if you care what they think of you, you will always remain a prisoner to their opinion.
Today the world is a much less peaceful place than when I was growing up, despite being a war baby. At least then, it was realistic to believe that 'soon the war would be over', whereas today, there is no end in sight of the daily misery experienced for almost one third of the globe. I'm afraid that one of the main reasons we know not peace today, is because we've lost the capacity to care for what we truly value, besides having forgotten that we belong to each other and are ultimately responsible for each other's end.
At the end of the day, it is love and compassion that will win through. So, as we approach the remainder of this year, let us resolve to be less sparing in our display of sensitivity, more radical in our expression of compassion and everlasting in our love." William Forde: August 4th, 2016.