About the Light that Shines through Simple Gestures of Empathy

My picture is of a builder from around here. This was at the ‘Walk of Light’ on Monday evening in Melbourne.

 

When this young man [whose name I don’t know], first heard about the atrocities and destruction on October 7 by Hamas in Israel he wanted to do something.

Quite shy in briefly introducing himself – he spoke of being of another faith – In this case, a disciple of Jesus.

But, just to be clear, given that this is my faith, such compassion is a unifying ethic of all our major religions.

In the past week,I have been at one event which was predominantly Muslim and now at these Jewish events. The prayers and texts in both places have been our call to be compassionate and peaceful.

Anyway, the young builder told the largely Jewish crowd on 7/10 at this ‘Walk of Light’ event how he made his way to a destroyed kibbutz in Israel; saw what was needed,got organised and then came back with teams to help rebuild … several times …

He read a letter that he sent to folk on that kibbutz after finishing the rebuild. His letter was all about his gratitude to them for their friendship and kindness.

The crowd rose to their feet and gave him a standing ovation. He looked surprised by this. Our Prime Minister and Premier were near me, with other leaders. I could see how touched they all were.

(And given how tough it is to offer fair-minded leadership to everyone affected by these events, my heart went out to our political leaders; I prayed quietly for them. They are dealing with a lot of traumatised and stressed people and much is being projected onto them. They have to deal emotionally with personal criticism from both sides.)

Anyway, again, earlier in the day I had been at a Synagogue for a Service of Prayers and Reflections. I was invited there to light a candle with the Chair of the Victorian Multicultural Commission, Ms. Vivienne Nguyen.

Because we were so visible,like that builder was later, people came up afterwards, with tears in their eyes, just to thank us for coming.

These emotional responses tell us a lot.Especially about the significance of simple gestures of empathy.

Towards the end of the evening, and after people read their poignant letters to loved ones who had died on October 7 or later as hostages, Deborah Conway led a singing of the Leonard Cohen Anthem with the refrain ‘there’s a crack in everything … that’s where the light gets in’.

 

When we empathise with the sorrows of others whoever they are, the light can stream in.

In our National Anthem we sing that ‘we are one and free’.

Our oneness has been affected by the sorrows of this past year. People on both sides have not felt others have unambiguously empathised with their sorrows.

Either the sorrows of 7/10 or all the terrible suffering since … and that still continues.

It’s hard to summarise such complex matters. But,listening ,it has seemed that people have sometimes felt there was no crack in the hearts of others .No crack to let their sorrow be recognised with the kind of compassion that lightens the load.

This isn’t normal. The day after these anniversary events I presided at a funeral. The partner of the deceased spoke so warmly of the kindness of his neighbours in his grief, these recent days. This response to our deeply personal times of love and grief is more normal, thankfully.

As regards wider matters of social cohesion, in summary, my learning from these vivid days is just this: where we can, even the simplest gestures we can make towards others in the period ahead will help with the healing of our nation. And, as the stories are shared, this may give some hope to those caught up in the sufferings of the Middle East.