I See You

Our world is in dire need of one thing.  Yes, we need rain.  We need peace.  We need a strong and stable economy.  Yet, there is one crucial thing we really need.  We need compassion.  However, in the busy,  performance driven world we live in there is very little place or time for compassion. We all rush from appointment to appointment, deadline to deadline. We have very little time for small talk.  In the work environment our focus is on achievement, productivity and profits and very little on real human connection.  This mindset spills over into our daily lives as well.  We have very little time for people outside of our immediate family circle.  We are more and more becoming strangers to the people around us.  We see people mostly as potential clients or customers, we evaluate them according to their potential usefulness in our lives.  We seldom see the person for who he or she really is.  We see their outward appearance and according to that we judge them, and then we either utilize them or discard them.

The result of this is that although we are becoming more productive and efficient, we in reality become poorer.  We are losing the human element in our lives.  More and more we are closing ourselves up in a cocoon, unconnected to the outside world, and to other humans.  With all the problems we face in our societies, the crime statistics we read about or even experience, we are welcoming our little cocoon.  We have become fearful of not only strangers, but even people moving outside of our little circle.  We shy away from making contact with others in fear of becoming involved, fearing for the demands they may make on our time, our resources or emotions.  We look at people, but we avoid connecting with them.  We avoid really seeing them, because seeing them opens the way for our hearts to start connecting with them.

When I start to see, I begin to realize that the person standing in front of me also have dreams and fears just like me.  He has worries and hopes just like me.  She is a mother just like me.  He or she is old just like I might be one day.  She is sad or happy, excited or anxious just like I am sometimes.  They bleed just like me. There is no difference.  We are alike in every way that matters.  When we really see into the hearts of people, we become compassionate and we start to care.  Our beings connect across the chasm of social differences and the barriers of race.  It is in that moment that all of life's trivial issues become moot.  It is in that moment that my soul reaches out to the person in front of me and our hearts really touch, we become one.  As one we are so much stronger.  Mothers that are united can unite their children, can unite a nation.  If we can see and connect with the plight we see in other people we can build bridges across any divide be it cultural, social or racial.  

It all starts with me.  I have to open my eyes and really really see you, connect with you and feel the beat of your heart.