"What I've seen here in Tucson is the verb-ness of love. That love is what you do, who you are, and how you show up. Love is bigger than most people try to limit it to be. It recognizes that you live in connection with everyone. Therefore, compassion is an automatic response."
--Rev. Donald Graves, Center for Spiritual Living, Tucson, Arizona
I'm basically a teacher and a writer---a teacher and a writer who is also a trained mental health professional. During my almost 30-year career, I've focused all of these roles on one thing.
Grief.
So, as an expert of sorts, I've kept an eye on the ways our society and, more
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specifically, our media deals with grief. I'm delighted to say that I've seen some heartening changes!
More and more often, the media is showing us the love and compassion that come with loss, rather than the murders and trials and the despair. Instead, it's showing us how people are healing and helping one another through times of grief.
In other words, it's showing us the "verb-ness" of love.
Don't you love that term?
As Rev. Graves points out in the quote above, the recent shooting in Tucson showed us what love in action looks like. And, it looks like compassion--the "awareness of and desire to alleviate distress and suffering."*
Let's get out there today and be a verb!
*Merriam-Webster dictionary definition
