When did I get to be so mean? I need an emotional bailout.
Recently, a friend of mine lost her job. I was not unhappy. The thought occurred to me that now she knows how I feel. This is very unlike my 1990's self. What I mean by that is, I used to be genuinely concerned for you and wished you well. Now I wish that you have the same bad fortune as me.
"Welcome to the economic crisis" is what I wanted to say. I'll bet there are people that still think they are immune. Your time will come. This is no ordinary economic crisis. This affects us all...just takes longer for some than others.
There was a time when I would help people, now I can't help myself, and certainly can't help you. Something is lost in a person that has lost almost everything. That something is called charity. I don't think I have it anymore.
I have also lost a lot of my compassion. I used to cry with joy for the people on "Extreme Makeover; Home Edition". I don't watch it anymore. I don't watch it because no longer does one family seem worthy enough. There are too many families that are worthy. I can't cry for the family that gets the dream. I would now have to cry for all the families that didn't get the dream. It's too much crying...
I have always been a person that feels deeply for others. Now I am in a survival mode and it seems I only feel for myself and my family.
I hope one day the compassion comes back. I don't like mean me. The economic crisis has turned into an emotional crisis for me. I want someone to bail me out of my emotional crisis.
I want to feel badly for my friend that lost her job.
Malicious Extrapolation
9 years ago
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hmm....kind of like trying to feel sorry for someone who is depressed when they turned their back on a friend when they were needed the most for the same thing.
ReplyDeleteBut Karma always comes around and so you find that compassion within yourself to treat others better than you have been treated.
some people have bad luck because they have flaunted life in it's face and it has finally caught up. Others because they are unlucky enough to work for a company that can no longer afford them. I don't think those two things put them in the same position, even though they both don't have jobs.
sometimes we help people not to really help them but for the pats on the back we get from doing it, or the feeling of superiority it gives us over those less fortunate. ie: those folks on extreme makeover, they have nothing but they continue to help others, not for the recognition but because they have compassion in spite of their own position in life.
too bad for you if you can't find compassion in your heart to feel bad for a friend. You're in for a long haul on the up side of karma if you can't.
Feeling good because a "friend" lost their job and is in the same boat as you is pretty low and poor me. Maybe you would feel better if all your friends lost their jobs and you could feel once again superior to them all.
Anonymous, as is usually the case, you need to reread the post. You didn't get it.
ReplyDeleteI think you still have compassion. The problem is your view of "who" deserves it has been refined. You no longer see the newly unemployed who can't afford a manacure as deserving.
ReplyDeleteGive them a few more years of unemployment. Let them loose their home. Let them loose their friends. Let them need food stamps. Then your compasion will be there. Then you will understand and have sympathy for the place they have landed.
It's hard to have sympathy for someone who just fell out of the boat; you're not sure if they are going to drown or swim at this point.
Thank God! Someone that GOT IT! Thank you Misty!
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