There was a very short article on the Internet about the accident my family was in. There were no specific details, mainly that there was just an accident.
The comments that followed made my jaw drop. Not one of them showed care or compassion for people who had just been in a traumatic situation.
One person said "It wouldn't be a holiday weekend without some bonehead rolling his or her car over on a major travel route."
Another kind citizen said "...if you are going to get in a 5000lb weapon on the same roads I travel with my family-then put your damn phone down and drive. Not one text you have ever or will ever send is more important than my daughter getting home alive."
There were plenty of other people who shared their opinions on the matter, but the interesting thing is, no one had any facts! The article never said anything about anyone texting and reality was, no one was texting! My brother WAS paying attention, which probably helped them all survive. This wasn't a case of people being flippant and driving like maniacs or not paying attention. This was a family with kids that happened to be on the freeway that morning.
We do this to each other. We see or hear of a situation and we fill in the gaps with our own theories and ideas. Sadly, when we are removed from a situation, our compassion for people can often come up short.
When we see a single, teenage girl who is pregnant.
When we see a person who is overweight.
When we see people of different ethnicities and tie prejudices to them.
When we see a man on the corner of the street with a cardboard sign.
When we see a child screaming his head off at the grocery store.
We do this. I do this. We fill in the story in our heads and decide why someone is the way they are and we go on with life, never stopping to know the full story. From afar, we assume the worst, like "the bonehead must've been texting."
It's different when we're up close. When we see people for who they are with our own eyes, compassion seeps in and we act and react from a place of understanding. Just like all the people who witnessed the accident that day with their own eyes, they stopped their lives to love and care for the strangers who needed it.
I want to be those people. Not the ones sitting behind a computer screen making outrageous accusations and judgments about people and their circumstances. I want to look at people as if I'm in the trenches with them. To stop the urge to fill in the blanks that I don't know and to react with love and care.
People need my grace more than they need my criticism.
I want to choose compassion.
Because at the end of the day,
it's what I need, too.
"With [the tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?"--James 3:9-12
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