{"id":7149,"date":"2017-02-16T06:45:25","date_gmt":"2017-02-16T11:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=7149"},"modified":"2017-02-16T06:45:25","modified_gmt":"2017-02-16T11:45:25","slug":"whats-hard-for-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=7149","title":{"rendered":"what’s hard for one"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"zaobpee_vv4-laura-ockel\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some things are too wonderful for me\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cToo wonderful\u201d in the sense that as much as I try to wrap my brain around the why and the how, I still cannot offer a definitive, concrete answer\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 like how the hawk can soar, so smoothly and serenely in mid-air\u2026
\n\u2026 how the leopard, lizard, or chameleon can creatively \u201cchange his spots,\u201d so-to-speak, blending into indigenous areas\u2026
\n\u2026 or how the tide rolls so swiftly in, the powerful but simultaneously delicate ebbs and flows of the ocean\u2026<\/p>\n

Yes, there are things too wonderful for us \u2014 things we do not totally have the answer to \u2014 and are incapable of fully describing or comprehending.<\/p>\n

One of the things I wrestle with on a more daily basis that I have yet to totally have the answer to is why and how we continually project emotion onto other people \u2014 the why and the how in regard to our expectation that all people should somehow feel the same way about all things\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 and if they don\u2019t, they are either wrong<\/strong><\/em> or something far less worthy or wise than \u201cme.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allow me a brief example, if you will\u2026<\/p>\n

I have friends and family for whom specific holidays are hard (\u2026 truth is, there are specific days for me<\/strong> that are hard).<\/em> For some, it\u2019s Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, or a specific person\u2019s birthday. This past week, it was Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

For various reasons \u2014 some big, some small, but reasons specific to another person<\/em> \u2014 those days are hard.<\/p>\n

I keep wrestling with this idea of loving our neighbors well. And the more I ponder and submit to authorities more omniscient than I, the more I see how perhaps the most pragmatic means of loving our neighbor well is having compassion for others in what\u2019s hard for them.<\/em> Note that I said \u201cthem\u201d\u2026 not for me, for someone else, nor anyone down the street.<\/p>\n

Loving our neighbor well means being in the trenches with that neighbor,<\/em> so-to-speak\u2026 walking beside them\u2026 getting into the down and the dirty\u2026 showing compassion \u2014 empathy as much as possible\u2026 and attempting to truly understand another\u2026 especially in what\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s an added nugget of wisdom we tend to omit: what\u2019s hard for them is not necessarily hard for another. And therefore, loving my neighbor well does not mean I must dismiss the legitimacy of how another responds\u2026 to the day, event, or something else.<\/p>\n

Yes, with some in the trenches, I share tears of sadness; with others, I share tears of joy. If I am am only willing to share one set of tears, then I am only loving some<\/em><\/strong> neighbors well. Tears for one do not preclude tears for the other.<\/p>\n

It thus makes little sense to me why we continue to project our emotions onto all others. What makes more sense \u2014 at least from seemingly, a perspective of wisdom \u2014 is as reasonably as possible, without sacrificing authenticity, empathetically being \u201call things to all people.\u201d That means loving the one you\u2019re with, albeit potentially through various sets of tears. \u2028\u2028Sorry. I said this was hard.<\/p>\n

Have you noticed the hawk soaring in mid-air lately? \u2026 how smoothly and serenely he soars?<\/p>\n

Yes, some things are hard to totally wrap the brain around\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cToo wonderful\u201d\u2026 yes, indeed.<\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some things are too wonderful for me\u2026 \u201cToo wonderful\u201d in the sense that as much as I try to wrap my brain around the why and the how, I still cannot offer a definitive, concrete answer\u2026 \u2026 like how the hawk can soar, so smoothly and serenely in mid-air\u2026 \u2026 how the leopard, lizard, or … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “what’s hard for one”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event","category-daily-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7149"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7153,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149\/revisions\/7153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}