Category Archives: Sympathy and Support

There’s nothing like a good cry

Posted on December 23, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

One of the most popular bars in the Chinese city of Nanjing contains only a sofa, a few tables, and lots of tissues. An international news service reported that it’s the city’s first ‘cry bar’, where customers can sit and … Continue reading →

Posted in Sorrow, Sympathy and Support, Weeping | Tagged | Leave a comment

Kennedy and God

Posted on September 29, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

When the late President Kennedy’s son Patrick, suffering from a lung ailment, was fighting for his life, his father went to see him in a part of the hospital specially cleared of all visitors. On his way there he passed … Continue reading →

Posted in Compassion, God, God's love, Suffering, Suffering love, Sympathy and Support | Tagged | Leave a comment

Virtue is not a commodity

Posted on May 11, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s a story about a wealthy man who gave his minister a cheque for fifty thousand dollars made out to the church. The minister, however, handed it back and said: ‘Go and cash it in for five dollar bills and … Continue reading →

Posted in Acts of Kindness, Compassion, Doing what has to be done, love, Sympathy and Support | Tagged | Leave a comment

Our ability to feel pain makes us human

Posted on May 11, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

One way that biologists evaluate life is in terms of the capacity to experience pain. They tell us that the more pain a creature experiences, the higher the life form. A worm, for example, experiences little pain, but a dog … Continue reading →

Posted in Feeling, God in us, Human nature, Pain, Suffering, Sympathy and Support | Leave a comment

It’s not enough just to observe

Posted on March 20, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

Some years ago Photojournalist Kevin Carter won a Pulitzer Prize with a picture of a starving Sudanese child crawling toward a feeding center while a vulture stared at him. That image drew international attention to both Sudan’s suffering and to … Continue reading →

Posted in Compassion, Indifference, Pain, Suffering, Sympathy and Support | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reflecting the light

Posted on October 8, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

I heard about a New York policeman who found a boy in an alley flashing a mirror up to a window in one of the tenements. He suspected he was up to no good. But the kid protested his innocence … Continue reading →

Posted in Compassion, Good deeds, Light, Light of Life, Sympathy and Support | Tagged | Leave a comment

Missing the point

Posted on August 29, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

I heard about a woman telling her friends about the value of a first-aid class she had completed. ‘Just yesterday, she said, ‘I was driving down the main street when I heard this awful crash. I slammed on the brakes, … Continue reading →

Posted in Compassion, Doing what has to be done, Religion, Self Deception, Sympathy and Support, True and False Religion | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Keeping an open mind

Posted on May 21, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Dr. Paul Ruskin once spoke to his medical students about a patient who couldn’t speak or understand what was said to her. She would babble incoherently for hours on end. She showed complete disregard for her physical appearance. She had … Continue reading →

Posted in Attitude, relationships, Seeing the possibilities, Spiritual Insight, Sympathy and Support, Wisdom | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Signs of civilization

Posted on March 2, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

The famous anthropologist Margaret Mead was once asked: what was the earliest sign of civilization in any given culture? Her answer was: “a healed femur.” The femur, of course, is the leg bone below the knee. Mead explained that no … Continue reading →

Posted in Acts of Kindness, Civilization, Compassion, Generous spirit, God, Healing, Inspirational, Law of Jungle, Life's journey, Loneliness, Mercy, relationships, Spiritual Insight, Spirituality, supportive community, Survival of Fittest, Sympathy and Support, tribulation and trouble, Uncertainty of Life, Unselfishness | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Forget you’ve been here

Posted on February 21, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

New York’s Mayor La Guardia, while serving as a judge during the Great Depression, had a widow brought before him charged with stealing bread. Her defence was that she had no food, no job, no money and two children to … Continue reading →

Posted in Acts of Kindness, Forgiveness, Hope, Justice, Mercy, Sympathy and Support, tribulation and trouble | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment