The Letter Part Deux
In my Journal Entry titled “The Letter” on November 13th, I provided a translation of the thoughts of a young man I ran into. He graciously gave me a letter he had proudly composed. It was a confusing composition because the man is developmentally disabled. Despite that handicap, he wrote a stirring piece that was obviously intended to relieve his own burden while at the same time changing the minds of those fortunate enough to read his words.
The translation was provided by Grammarly’s AI copy-editing feature. The AI engine did a good job of taking a difficult-to-read piece of writing and turning it into a coherent work. While this demonstrates the power of AI, it does not reflect my own interpretation, which I humbly present below:
There are many people in the world who have been mistreated, even hated. One could not blame them if after having repeatedly endured this abuse, they begin to feel hatred toward their abusers. This pattern has to be broken for the world to become a safer place for all of us to live. When others feel pain because of our actions, we are moving in the wrong direction. Turning the table, and sharing pain back is not the answer, even if it is understandable on a primal level. We should be, we are, more evolved than that. The answer has to be, to find a way to show empathy and compassion to those who are suffering in some way. Even those whom we may find ourselves disagreeing with deserve this effort from us. With practice and patience, we can get better at sowing compassion, as individuals, and as a society. It begins with compassion, that is the bridge that fords the river of hate and allows us to reach the other side, the side where we allow ourselves to show love. Love freely given permits those who see themselves as victims to begin to look differently at themselves, and at everyone around them. This will make all of us better humans.
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