Liberating Locked-up Compassion

 

This week I am visiting Minneapolis Minnesota as part of the
Unitarian Universalist Annual General Assembly. 
It is a week packed with indoor meetings and worship, rushed
conversations, and strategizing on how to save and savor the world.  I admit to going stir crazy with so much
human interaction and emphasis, much perhaps like a caged bird might feel.  Finally I managed to get out for a long walk
this morning from our hotel down to the Mississippi river. Amongst the
skyscrapers and parking lots were the expected urban birds: scattered pigeons,
sparrows, and grackles .What was surprising was a lone bird feeder hanging from
a parking sign, around which flew the city dwellers.  I wonder who considers the well being of
these birds, often thought of as pests or blights upon our urban
landscapes.  I wonder too who doesn’t
consider the well being of these birds, as there was a lock on the feeder so it
would not be stolen.  So there we have
our paradox – how we demonstrate the liberating compassion of our kind and how
we cage our compassion, keeping it locked up from others and from
ourselves.  The miracle is that we have a
choice.

Which do you choose –
liberating or locking up your compassion?