An Open Heart

As my regular readers know, I am Roman Catholic.

I am also a big fan of Pope Francis.  He inspires me to be a better person.

Pope Francis had a suggestion for what people could give up for Lent.    Pope Francis has suggested we give up indifference for Lent.

In my personal journey of trying to be the best human I can be, I try hard to not be indifferent to the suffering of others.  I need to warn all of you who might try it.  It is hard.  It is painful.  It is isolating.

When you open your heart to the suffering of others, it means that you no longer decide that anyone "deserves" their fate.  You are open to counsel about different choices that can lead to better outcomes, but you can't look suffering in the face and simply shrug and walk away.

I am not comfortable with panhandlers.  When alone, I am often frightened by them.  If I am unable to offer any physical assistance, at least I can pray for them.

I often see people in what I perceive as a hell of their own making.   I can no longer just say they have to live with the consequences of their bad choices.  I have to ask myself if there is someway I can help them, and if not, I am obliged to pray for them to find better choices.

In the current political dialogue in the United States, there is a large body of people who have an "I worked for mine, you can work for yours or do without" attitude.  That is indifference to someone else's suffering.

When we first started dating, my husband often counseled me on my tendency to be judgemental.  He would remind me that everyone has different gifts and capabilities, and that just because I could see something was a bad idea at the outset, not everyone had been blessed with that ability.  And some people are not blessed with tremendous physical strength.   And some people are not blessed with emotional strength, or with strong support systems.

My husband was the first person to challenge my certainty that if a person tried hard enough, they could have a good life.

Now I realize that everyone that has a good life got lucky.

I'm not diminishing the hard work, or the discipline, or the sacrifice that may have been offered to have a good life.

I'm just conscious that the fortunes of birth (see Privilege) are as big, or bigger of a factor in a successful life as anything else.

That will slap your indifference right in the face.  I can no longer look at any human and dismiss them.  I have to think about what they didn't get that they needed that led them to where they are.

There is a lot of discourse about violence in American society.  For many, what they have seen and been taught is to take what they want.  This goes for the corporate raiders as well as the petty street criminals.

Only by being indifferent to others can we take from them what is theirs.  When we open our hearts and embrace the suffering they will feel from our actions, we have to step back and decide if what we are taking from them is to help them or to hurt them.

Make no mistake, taking guns away from those who would hurt people, taking drugs or alcohol from addicts, taking children from abusive parents, these are all action that show caring, not indifference.

Taking individuals out of society who can not live peacefully without harming others is an act of caring, not indifference.  But then you have to treat them with dignity and respect, all while protecting society from their actions.

But taking medical care, or food assistance, or education opportunities, or voting access, these are acts of supreme and reckless indifference.

That is why giving up indifference is isolating.  Because if you live a comfortable life, there is a good chance that you are surrounded by people who want a world where they can pretend the private sector will provide health care, and food, and educational opportunities and voting access without government intervention.

And since the private sector has long proven itself incompetent in providing these things, to pretend it will magically happen takes supreme indifference to the suffering that a lack of government intervention creates.

So you will have a lot of topics to avoid when you talk to your friends, or you will argue a lot.  If you are lucky, you will find some friends who can agree to disagree.  But you will feel lonely in crowds, as people comfortably bash the poor and disadvantaged, as they name call people who try to point out that they have been disenfranchised, right before they head to their selected religious services.

You will be called a "bleeding heart liberal", and it will be accurate; because your open heart bleeds for the suffering of others.

I am a bleeding heart liberal.  I embrace the pain.  And the difficulty.  And the isolation.

Because I want to do more than give up indifference for Lent.  I want to give up indifference forever.