Every human who lives
and feels and is a being
deserves to be treated
with unconditional dignity,
no matter what that person
has done or how terrible
they are deemed to be.
And dignity is the core
of a radical compassion
that views all beings
as having rights
that transcend everything
that we might think
or believe about
the evil potential
and dark pit
of depravity
into which they
seem to have fallen.
Radical compassion
does not depend upon
how one feels, for this
would make compassion
merely self-indulgent sympathy,
but on the notion
that every being is a
significant part of the whole,
and a unique creature
of infinite worth.
Even the enemy
deserves the
radical compassionate
response of equity of care
that comes from
a conviction that
all beings are equal,
of the same worth,
deserving of generosity
and needing the healing
power of love’s gentle balm.
11/11/2016