Believe in Compassion

Whether you believe in God or not always believe in compassion. Because compassion is the essence of all civilization and without it things could get pretty crazy here on earth, even much crazier than they are now.

One of the things I learned is in my teens and 20s mostly I didn't care if I lived or died because I was so full of macho and a young man's thoughts and feelings. However, once my girlfriend got pregnant with my son when I was 25 all that changed. Then it didn't matter whether I lived or died for myself but it did matter whether I lived for my son.

So, this worked for me that I cared enough to stay alive for my son, and any "To Be or not to BE" totally went out the window from then on.

Then it was about supporting my wife and son and starting businesses to support my son and later my other children too and a lot less about me and my selfish wants and wishes.

Through a yoga of family and children I found a path that did not lead to suicide or self destructiveness.

So, even if I couldn't have compassion for myself I could have compassion for my son and later for my other children. So, they became the focus of my life instead of me.

So, even if you cannot find compassion for yourself all the time if you are a parent you have a reason to go on living and to become a success in your life through your compassion for others. Later you can learn to have compassion for yourself too. But, for men especially likely because of testosterone it is sometimes much easier to have compassion for others first rather than ourselves.

Also, it might be different now than when I was raised in the 1950s. As a boy growing up I always knew there was a 50-50 chance I would die in a war because this is what was going on when I grew up after World War II. So, I sort of expected to die by age 20 to 25 growing up in that era. To be prepared for dying seemed important then so boys prepared to die in war all around me.

We were expendable and we knew it.

And more of us died in Viet Nam exactly my age more than any other age of men.

So, believe in compassion even when you haven't learned to have compassion for yourself because you have been trained to be a warrior instead of having compassion for yourself. So, learn to have compassion for your friends, girlfriends, wives, brothers, sisters, parents, Grandparents etc. first if you need to.