Being aware is not without its challenges. Greater awareness necessarily means greater compassion, and compassion demands action. Compassion is not content with merely seeing how the world already is and allowing it to carry on producing suffering without end. It will not allow us to hide and enjoy our own safety and security while others suffer in need.
But the enormity of the task before us can be overwhelming. That so many are struggling with unmet needs means that significant changes are required. Changes not just to individuals but also to the systems we have constructed that actively work against compassion. It can sometimes feel like we need to go to war with the whole world just to be able to fix it.
And there is some truth to this, for we often will have to fight on behalf of need. We will have to fight using every possible means available to us. Compassion does not abandon its demands simply because the means are unsavoury or laws will be broken. To act from compassion is to use every last tool in whatever ways it must be used to meet needs and reduce suffering.
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