The more we love humankind as a whole the more we feel the pain and injustice around us. It is important for kind people living in cruel times to protect their hearts.
The branches of a tree cannot grow larger or stronger than the roots will support. Even as our “branches” strive sunward toward justice, so must our “roots” be nurtured in the dark rich soil of peace and compassion. We need to resist the assaults on human rights, but it is not betrayal to the resistance to make time for rest and joy. It is not a denial of oppression to make time to celebrate the wonder of being alive.
Justice is simply love that has done the math of how happiness might be shared. Even in brutal times we must remember we are marching toward a future happiness not an endless conflict. Spending our lives planting seeds for a better future can be a path to peace and joy even if we do not see the results in our own lifetimes. Sometimes we must “borrow” joy from a future happiness that lives only in our hopes for others.
Hope is not a vacuous wish for a better future. Hope is making our lives a love letter to those yet to be. We cannot work for the common happiness if we ourselves are without joy. If justice is to be a lifelong passion then we must make it sustainable for the long run. We must poke breathing holes in the mason jar of our activism.
Perhaps that is part of what Rumi was implying when he said:
“Come, Come, Whoever You Are Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. �It doesn’t matter. �Ours is not a caravan of despair.� Come, even if you have broken your vows �a thousand times�. Come, yet again, come, come.”