On Radical Compassion: A Poem

Sociological Meanderings Towards Collective Well-Being

(an amateur’s poem)

I woke up this morning, eyes. Foggy and heavy. I could feel the weight.

Of sorrow, of a thirst. For justice.

I awaken to the knowledge.

That

I

Am

Connected

To

The

Problem.

But also, with hope and perseverance, committed to the solution.

Bearing all that in body-mind, I look you in the eyes.

You. A stranger. I choose to see you. Communicate through touch, even.

You. A stranger. I will hold you. I reach out to you, to wade through.

The complexity, the contradiction, the paradox. In other words, our shared humanity.

It is an act of revolution. Of sincerity. Of

C O M P A S S I O N.

Radical compassion.