Rage encounters empathy
If you live long enough
Acknowledgment of the other
That’s where it gets rough
Your friends and enemies
Each know the same pains
When harm’s inflicted
Both souls are stained
To be a mammal is to anger
Putting your needs above
But to be a mammal also
Is to love
You did what you did
Then and before
But you can choose to do it
No more
Maybe rage is part
Of a divine plan
But maybe love can grow
In the heart of a man
Live long enough
Perhaps to learn
Fire can warm
Not only burn
Gene G. McLaughlin 2019
Tag: empathy
Sirens and Bird Calls
The sirens and bird calls
Merge in the distance
Becoming one to my ears
Both are alerts of an oncoming storm
I can see the shadow of what approaches
It’s outline partitioned by the bright sun
No storm ever comes as one
It comes in parts
What you choose to brace for
Wind
or
Water
or
Lightning
or
Mud
Depends on where you’re standing
Gene G. McLaughlin 2017
The Other Guy’s Version of Empathy
The subject was pain
Not related to you
Only what me
And mine
Have been through
Empathy is
My needs met
With little
Or no
To do
From you
Gene G. McLaughlin 2016
The Kindness Engine
Kindness is the creation of clarity
Life is never empty of pain
Value empathy not insularity
The path to balance writ plain
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
Evolved Not Granted
Kindness and empathy exist
Without us inventing them
Traits evolved
Not granted
Lessons learned
Over millenniums
Not centuries
Gene G. McLaughlin 2014
Find Empathy
Your prosperity
Should not come
At all other’s expense
If confronted with inequity
Find empathy
Before taking immediate offense
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
We Never Think It is Us
We never think it is us
Who will struggle to rise
Overestimation
Our shared sin
Those of us who know
Extend our hands
To the fallen
As if
They were
Us
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
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