Dan Rather’s book, What Unites Us, is one which I highly recommend. He is old enough to remember what life was like in the aftermath of the great depression, times before we had government programs to help people in need, along with the suffering which was thought of as normal. When someone lost their job, it felt like death, because there was not another job to be found. Neighbors would do what they could for each other, and when little Dan asked his mother why they were helping the people across the street (thinking perhaps it was pity which inspired his folks to give) he was told it wasn’t because they felt sorry for them, but because they understood the feeling of being in need. He writes of empathy building community. In the last three decades, I’ve watched our little town band together to help people in every kind of need that you can imagine. I have been the recipient of that kindness more than once, and it has built empathy within me, too. When we don’t blame people for their misfortune, we don’t judge their circumstances, but simply meet their need, whatever it may be. It seems so simple, and it is a beautiful thing to watch in action. I wish everyone in our country could read or listen to this book by Mr. Rather. Good will multiplies exponentially, don’t you think? Let’s go forth and multiply!
"Do we love our neighbor better because of this asking? Do we pursue the old selfishness, satisfied with having prayed for something better, though we give no evidence of the sincerity of our requests by living consistently with our prayer? If selfishness has given place to kindness, we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly, and bless them that curse us, but we shall never meet this great duty simply by asking that it may be done. There is a cross to be taken up before we can enjoy the fruition of our hope and faith."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 9:6
“And God Himself shall wipe away all tears. Father, unless I judge I cannot weep. Nor can I suffer pain, or feel I am abandoned or unneeded in the world. This is my home because I judge it not, and therefore is it only what You will. Let me today behold it uncondemned, through happy eyes forgiveness has released from all distortion. Let me see Your world instead of mine. And all the tears I shed will be forgotten, for their source is gone. ⁷Father, I will not judge Your world today.
“God’s world is happy. Those who look on it can only add their joy to it, and bless it as a cause of further joy in them. We wept because we did not understand. But we have learned the world we saw was false, and we will look upon God’s world today.”
A Course in Miracles W-301.1:1–2:4
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