Be Kind to All--We are all Fighting Battles

Maria Shriver tweeted three amazing messages on this Memorial Day that should be contemplated and shared (I have combined them here for convenience):

"My daughter once gave me a great Plato quote that said, 'Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.' I love that. So true. . . We don't know what is going on inside of most people. . . . On this Memorial Day, when so many are grieving in obscurity or silence, let's keep that in mind. Be kind...so many people are grieving."   Maria Shriver

 

Maria, the niece of John and Robert Kennedy, is an amazing woman of grace who is no stranger to "hard battles."  As she taught, we would do well to remember those around us who are in the midst of life's battles.  If we feel we are struggling too much to do something, then we have even more reason to stretch by reaching out to help others.  In so doing, we can receive the gift of a healing balm in our own lives.

On this Memorial Day and all days, let us live the spirit of President Lincoln's Second Inaugural address, delivered about 40 days before his assassination as the Civil War--where over 600,000 men died--was ending:  "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations."

Sunset from the Washington Monument toward the Lincoln Memorial

From life's battles we all have wounds that need care and healing.  Yes, to one degree or another, we all walk in our own tattered shoes.  We all have need of compassion and, in turn, we all need to give compassion.  We can all make a difference in our own world starting today by doing something kind for someone else, by reserving judgment, and by forgiving ourselves for our own failings.  Let the memory of the honored dead in all wars and in our own lives give us hope that we may "achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."  What are you going to do?  Have a great day!