Weekend Challenge: Resolve to see, notice and empathize

I believe that we all have a bug inside us,

Bugging us incessantly

To be part of something

Bigger than ourselves.

It’s a bug that becomes increasingly bothersome

If you sit somewhere quiet, all by yourself,

Or look down from a plane

Or from atop a mountain.

It’s that bug that Bill Gates’ words aroused in me today -

Why do we normally shut our eyes to suffering?

Why do we pretend that inequities don’t exist?

My challenge to me - and to you - this weekend

Is to go out and see, and notice, and talk about it.

Go somewhere.

See the faces.

Notice what people are going through.

Relate to and feel it.

Then talk about it and share what you have seen with someone.

Yes, I’m challenging you to open yourself

To consciously notice the suffering around you

And to empathize with the suffering.

Why?

Because we are too used to shutting our eyes

And pretending it doesn’t exist!

And that's cruel, to ourselves and to humanity.

So, let’s do something different for a change, this weekend.

Let us will ourselves to see it, this once.

And no, I’m not asking you to solve it

But of course, if you can, go right ahead.

But that’s not the main point here.

The important thing is to notice, to feel and to share

What you have seen

Because that’s what it means to be Human!

Resolve to be part of something bigger

Than I, myself and me!