Forgiveness

This past week has been especially challenging emotionally. Aside from the continuing issues with my beloved family, I have been overrun with ever-increasing reports of extreme animal cruelty and neglect.
Anyone who knows me well knows how these things just destroy me. My gift of compassion is so acute that I actually feel the pain of others. It has been a long road to get to a place where I can see this as a gift, and this week has caused no small amount of introspection on my part.

Like anyone who loves animals, my first reaction is vengeance-how anyone could possibly be so stunningly cruel horrifies me.
What I am about to say may cause some disgust and disagreement and I do understand. But I truly believe that every spirit-however dark-has a light. When we meet cruelty and pain with anger and pain, it only increases.
The true test of our humane-ness, our humanity, lies in not condoning such horrors, but in finding it in our hearts to somehow know that these people have been treated cruelly, at some time, themselves. Not to excuse the behavior-but to find a way to forgiveness.
We all are outraged when a child is beaten or neglected...but what happens when that child grows up and carries on that legacy of pain? Only by summoning the very brightest of our light can we stop the chain...I know it sounds-feels-so counter to even imagine forgiving people like this, but by "giving them a taste of their own medicine" we perpetuate the cycle of pain. Those who do these kinds of things never learn empathy or compassion by like treatment or punishment. I know...I know...very tall order, but we have to learn to rise above our revenge-oriented conditioning if we ever want to truly get at the root cause of these atrocities and stop them for good, and to usher in a new era of human potential based on compassion and kindness.