You are no better than me

Most people really don’t want to know how you are
It’s just trivial talk
It’s better to usually say I’m fine
Even if you’re not
It’s better to hide behind what others prefer to see
than be how you feel

What’s real is hardly important
If you don’t feel good,
 stay home
If you stay home enough,
returning to wherever you’re staying home from
is less likely to happen

My actions don’t meet up with  your expectations
Your expectations are what is important
Does that mean you are important? 

Since when did you become better than me?
Since when did you become perfect?
Since when did God say to you,
go ahead, throw the first stone,
show no compassion,
point out another’s errors
make them feel less than they already feel

Most people don’t really want to know
how you are

All across the board,
there is no difference
You might think there should be
but people are human after all
and no matter what comes along,
it seems, to me anyway,
truly caring for another
is very much lacking.

We may try
and to some extent
we may succeed

But because of our humanness
every event at every
emotional, mental, physical and spiritual level
we are dealt and have to face,
individual compassion
for each other ranks low

Job asks in Chapter 2, verse 10 --
“Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”

I ask --
Is it right and just and true to accept and receive adversity from our peers and not a kind word?  Is it right to feel belittled for prayer requests?  Is it right to point out how a person should act and not consider why a person acts a certain way?

You are no better than me
You are not perfect
You have burdens to bear
You are no better than me

I am me
I have burdens to bear
I am not less than you because your burdens are less burdensome

I am still loved by God
He feels my pain
He knows my needs
He sees my hurts

You are no better than me
You are not perfect
You were not given the right to downgrade another

I am still loved by God
I am not perfect
I don’t claim to be more than I am

You are no better than me.

I am still accepted by God, even if by you I am not.

“We must learn to look less at what people do or don’t do and more at what they suffer.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 (c) August 11, 13-14