Volume 12, Issue 7
Autumn 2005

Susan Kramer

Compassion - feeling what needs to be done, and acting on it with kindness.

I feel that the catastrophic natural disasters this past year, including tsunamis, hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes, earthquakes, flooding and more have been and continue to be opportunities for us to rise above self-centeredness and realize our stance as cousins, one and all, in the world family.

And as we would act for our nuclear family, we are learning to stretch our embrace around our world family with kind acts through compassion.

Events have been so catastrophic to so many of us in the world family that we have been almost forced to reach out to unknown neighbors and world citizens for help. And in turn, those of us able to give our time and energy and resources have turned from indulging in small self-centered satisfactions to extending kindness toward the larger need.

I see our little bit of time on earth as a testing ground. We arrive through birth, and dependent on others, strive to survive. And as we grow into adulthood we learn how to become self-sufficient, and then extend ourselves through family responsibilities to care for our self and others.

But in the overall planetary plan small family service is not enough outreach - we must grow to see how we are cousins to everyone on our planet, and in that light feel the greater need and act for that need with compassion; with kindness.

As we zoom off from the landing pad of our home called Earth, more and more in the years to come, we will say to other-planetary beings, "my home is earth, I'm from the planet Earth." We won't be saying "I'm from a small village in Holland." We will represent ourselves as part of a world family.

Let's take the present opportunities to grow in kindness through showing compassion, so that we truly feel like we are part of the great world family, the Earth family.

With compassion, kindness
Hand and hand
We carry forth
A master plan
Of caring, sharing
Heartfelt giving
To receive more
Joy in living.

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Developing Compassion and Kindness © 2005 Susan Kramer
Web site http://www.susankramer.com
Author's Books http://www.lulu.com/susankramer
Email susan@susankramer.com

Photo credit- Susan Kramer: In our experimental greenhouse for tomatoes, they grew so tall we had to remove the top by June 25th. And then combined with a cool summer and heavy rains the plants waterlogged. We did harvest 80 tomatoes, though. So, recently we raised the height of the walls by building a one foot high foundation wall under the plexiglass walls. Next summer we plan to leave on the lid - just cracked open - to build up warmth. We'll report back in a year about the result. BTW, we're at the 51st latitude, near the North Sea in Holland. - Susan