Current mood:	pensive
Entry tags:	author:flori

Some thoughts.

Luke 6:27-36 (NRSV): But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

I know that this is useless to most everyone who reads this, and that "turn the other cheek" has been misused and abused by so many before that it's hardly possible to take it seriously anymore. But it is what I believe. Others might let pain blind them to the humanity of others. I will not. Others might seek revenge, under that name or as "justice". I won't. It's not easy, and sometimes it seems downright impossible, but I must do it. Even the most loathsome person in existence is not worth the cost of hating them. I have no expectations of changing others with this philosophy; the purpose of it is to change me.

So, yes, if Shiba were to come to me honestly needing my help, even without giving an apology for what she's done, I would help her. If That Man were to need help, genuinely, it would be much, much harder to do, but I would do it. Even if I needed to carry pepper spray as I did so, for comfort's sake. It can be hard to stomach, but I have done it with lesser matters, and I have seen others in this system give the benefit of the doubt where I would have thought it was useless to risk it. Maybe it was, but we are still better off for it. I could go on for too long why I believe so, but... I think it's best, at least, to take myself down a notch and admit that Bao's beloved Dhammapada probably says it most clearly:

Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made. To speak or act with a defiled mind is to draw pain after oneself, like a wheel behind the feet of the animal drawing it.
Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made. To speak or act with a peaceful mind, is to draw happiness after oneself, like an inseparable shadow.
I have been insulted! I have been hurt! I have been beaten! I have been robbed! Anger does not cease in those who harbour this sort of thought.
I have been insulted! I have been hurt! I have been beaten! I have been robbed! Anger ceases in those who do not harbour this sort of thought.
Occasions of hatred are certainly never settled by hatred. They are settled by freedom from hatred. This is the eternal law.
Others may not understand that we must practice self-control, but quarrelling dies away in those who understand this fact.
--The Dhammapada, I. 1-6, as translated by John Richards.

For us, at least, this is the truth.