"…the salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and in human responsibility." – Vaclav Havel, former President of Czechoslovakia in a speech to the U.S. Congress
President Havel spoke to our Congress from a position of powerful experience and seering pain. The country he represented at the time of his speech had experienced years of oppression under Soviet rule. "A person who cannot move…because he is pinned under a boulder," he said, "has more time to think about his hopes than someone who is note trapped that way." How many of us allow ourselves to feel trapped under the oppression of a tyrannical boss or a bad work environment?…
And in that situation, how well do we nurture or dreams? I find that many caregivers seem to have given up – surrendered to the idea that things can never get better. In so doing, they surrender their humanity and begin doing their jobs by rote.
Every act of kindness opens the door to Love. Every time we tolerate injustice, including in our workplace, a piece of our soul breaks off and floats away. How may we reclaim our souls? Part of the answer is already clear – it is by acts of kindness.
But it takes more. It’s easy for caregivers to be kind to nice patients and nice co-workers. A great act of Love occurs when we show compassion to people who act in repulsive ways.
The human heart is both fragile and strong. It is vulnerable to wounds and it is capable of the most important actions any person can take toward another. It requires courage to take these actions, the kind of courage that Love enables.
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
Leave a reply to ~liz Wessel Cancel reply