Be Compassionate

So, let's take a moment to pause and reflect upon the fact that I'm currently blogging FROM THE PLANE, ON MY iPad. Technology is really cool sometimes. Shout out to Southwest Airlines for planes with wifi and a free drink because it's Valentine's Day. Anyway, I am in the middle of this AWESOME book, and I just had to blog about it immediately. I borrowed it from a co-worker and amazing role model of a teacher who dropped it off at my house very late last night so that I could have it for my trip (he is seriously awesome). It's called Tattoos on the Heart, by Greg Boyle, SJ. Go buy this book or get it from the library. Right now. Seriously. Go do it. I started it on flight #1 of the day, from Houston to Orlando, and I am already halfway through it. I can't put it down. I have been laughing out loud, reading entranced, and also openly crying for the past four hours, and I can't stop. I'll probably finish it by the time I get to Providence, and I will read it again on the way back. Greg Boyle is a Jesuit who lives and works in Los Angeles and has set up a few different companies that empower and employ gang members in the city that has been called the gang capital of the world. I actually considered putting one of his ministries, Homegirl Industries, as one of my potential choices for JVC, but my lack of Spanish skill killed that idea. I am now regretting all my years of French (not really) just because I'd love to be a part of such an amazing place (I still really love CRJ). I think that today, on Valentine's Day, it's appropriate to write about love. Greg Boyle embodies God's love, and does an incredible job showing other people that they too are Christ's love to other people. I could probably write about 70 different things I have learned in the first 100 pages of this book, but if I had to pick one for today, I would talk about love. Boyle writes a lot about the real needs of people in poverty, and while they do certainly need money for rent or diapers, their biggest need is self worth. This is especially prevalent in gang members: many of them know that their choices are wrong and feel immense guilt about it, but they do not know how to break the cycle. Once they realize their own self worth and the self worth of every other human being on this planet, they realize that they CAN change their lives, so they do. The connection between "sinners" and "outcasts" in biblical terms is not lost on Boyle, and how many people don't realize the connection those two meanings still subconsciously hold for many people in modern society. Greg Boyle, or "G" as he is known to many in his barrio, writes about resilience. This is something I have noticed about so many of the poor I have encountered- time and time again, they are knocked down, but they get back up again. "They say that an educated inmate will not reoffend. This is not because an education assures that this guy will get hired somewhere. It is because his view is larger and more educated, so that he can be rejected at 93 interviews and still not give up. He's acquired resilience. Sometimes resilience arrives in the moment you discover your own unshakeable goodness." (Boyle, 107) This book, a collection of Boyle's stories about his work and love without condition, force the reader to ask a lot of questions. How am I Christ to other people? Do I recognize my own self worth or am I way too hard on myself? If we can learn to love ourselves, we can better love each other. Happy Valentine's Day! Sending love from the air over North Carolina... almost in Friartown, a place where love knows no boundaries!