carrying vs. compassion

these days when the flag is half-mast regularly and tragic news becomes all but routine, i am reminded of anne morrow lindbergh's wisdom that we are not meant to carry but a few people well.  it is good for me to reread her book "gift from the sea" at least once for every new decade of life and be reminded that she said, and rightly so, the human frame was only designed to carry so much.

so if we are only meant to carry a few people well, what about the rest of the world?  that's where i believe we can offer compassion but without straining under the weight of it all on our own shoulders.  a compassionate attitude that rays out from the center of our being can extend beyond the smaller circle of intimate care to include not only colleagues, acquaintances, and strangers, but also neighborhoods, cities, and regions. 

just today a young lady i met was all too aware of the era in which she was growing up.  she was on her way to an essential oils workshop at the foster family camp we are facilitating and she said, "i wish we could just 'bath bomb' the world instead of using real bombs.  then everyone would smell like lavendar and be relaxed and happy and maybe stop fighting!"  i'm with her.  bath fizz in place of violence any day. 

may our compassion extend even as we carry a few people well.