Compassion In The Most Unlikely Places

When I came out to my parents, I was as shocked as they were. My mother, whom I was always the closest with (and whom I was sure already knew), took the news terribly and became a hysterical mess. My father, the Elder, whom I had always felt distant to, handled it calmly. He proceeded to tell me that it was OK, but that I could just repress it, and that there were others in the congregation who “struggled with the same thing.” I had to stop him before he “outed” them, but he wanted to let me know that I wasn’t the only one. Although my relationship with them has deteriorated to the point where we are not speaking, I will never forget that brief moment of tender compassion and understanding.

Human compassion is a wonderful human trait but is highly underutilized. Although it is our nature to be compassionate and understanding, we allow divisiveness to pervade. We only need to look to the Hebrew God for an example of the latter. The Old Testament is fraught with tales of a chosen people, left to slavery and a forced nomadic existence. We see innocent victims slaughtered for the sins of others or for merely being of a different race and religion, or for merely being the “unchosen.” It is not difficult for us to understand how a religion who claims to worship this God behaves in a similar manner.

When I read the Bible in its entirety, I remember sensing a different, loving and up building message in the Gospels. It was as if the dark clouds parted and gave way to a warm sun and blue sky. There, Jesus gives us a message of hope, peace and love. If Jesus were to appear today, it is easy to imagine him – not as the judge and executioner – but as the compassionate man the Gospels describe him to be, who associated with the deviants, the poor and downhearted. He would no doubt scorn the religious elite, who insist of their own piousness.

In a small act of compassion albeit briefly, my father displayed a similar love and understanding instead of condemnation, that calmed a highly volatile and emotional moment. It is odd how those who profess their extraordinary righteousness are the least compassionate, but it is the humble that reveal the most. I always appreciate the words of St. Francis of Assisi, “Go out and preach the gospel and if you must, use words.”

Peace and Love,
Happy Homo