Blog 1868 – 11.04.2020

The Baker’s Daughter

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XbPxa6hIs0HO-szIyt95C7jpKp7z3vwn/view?usp=drivesdk

The Baker’s Daughter

Yesterday, in perhaps a too political blog I touched on a subject, politics aside, that I feel very strongly is always an appropriate subject – the importance or empathy. The first people had a saying about judgement that before we assume to judge someone else’s situation that we should walk a mile in their moccasins. Even trying to see things through the other person’s eyes can open up new paths to understanding.

The thing about most arguments is that the participants too often yell over one another not listening at all to the other except to remember insults and injuries to carry proudly like a cross while apparently hoping to nail the other upon it. This attitude is so foreign from the example of Jesus, called the Christ, that I am ever amazed that so many who profess to be his followers act more like the religious people and lawyers of his day that so often were the targets of his harshest words, their conduct anyway. He was if you believe the story sent to die for them after all, not the well-behaved.

The bad behavior of the baker’s daughter who lied to the poor hungry old woman who begged bread from her is rewarded with a curse matching her crime. Jesus once said that with the same measure that we use on others it will be measured out to us. Many of us seem to forever be trying to get the most out of life oblivious to the truth that we only get out of any endeavor what we put in. Something for little or nothing is always a sucker’s bet as con men, casino owners, and investment councilors all know too well lining their own coffers from the pockets and purses of their eager clients. The great secret to getting is giving. It is not just more blessed to give than to receive, it is the best investment plan that reaps the highest profits, always has, always will.

Sympathy is cheap, feeling sorry for someone, crocodile tears come easy, but empathy, really putting ourself in someone else’s shoes requires action. In an episode of West Wing, a young pilot was shot down flying a routine mission patrolling the southern no-fly zone over Iraq. In the White House situation room they knew that a large force of Iraqi regulars were but miles away from where he ejected from his plane. There was some discussion of the dangers and possible repercussions of a rescue mission to attempt to get him back. The President’s chief of staff standing in for the President who had been shot and was in the hospital being treated said, “If that was your son stranded behind enemy lines, alone, and fearing the torture that he was most certainly about to endure, you would entertain but one thought and that getting him the hell out of there and home safe. That is what we are going to do and now.”

Our better angels always move us to do to and for others what we would have done to and for ourselves. Our better angels know that for all the seeming distance and difference between us that we are are but one and than any investment in another is an investment in that One Self. Cohabitating with others is always a challenge fraught with disagreements that seem unresolvable tempting us to build high walls or engage in open warfare. But love is always the more excellent way that builds strong and lasting bridges over, between, and through. You cannot whisper it to anyone without its echo being heard deep in your own heart, “I love you.” Love is meant to be most of all an action verb and not just a noun.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zRodvt6wJfGiPuNEWrgHBGf7J30Pv_X1/view?usp=drivesdk

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