If No Man Is An Island, Is Compassion The Connection?

There is another extraordinary piece by Keith Carlson about the contrasts and ironies experienced by those who care for others. This piece is an antidote and contrast to the report about abuse by carers that is (rightly) dominating the news cycles at present, and the grisly stories featuring prominently on blogs like NHS Blog Doc's.

Keith Carlson gives us very moving insight into the currents of his working life and his vocation. He looks in on a patient and receives his good wishes for the weekend.

Our handshake was a lingering one, and then I took my leave, walked out into the light rain, and looked back at the windows of the institution temporarily housing this gentle and kind soul. He may be locked inside and I may be free to roam, but his spirit is as free as mine, and part of him left with me, and I carry it with me still. It lives in my heart, and no physical boundary can dissolve the strings of compassion which connect us all.

Amidst all the recent publicity, it is refreshing and necessary to read an account like this. And to know that there are people who are guided by their compassion and a keen sense of human dignity. It is all the more necessary when there are incidents that make us question whether some people recognise human dignity in the vulnerable. We frequently quote John Donne's Meditation XVII:

No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee

I have the privilege to run Happystance workshops with carers: the more that I meet them, and the more I come across the writings of people like Keith Carlson, the more I question whether the connection between us all is grounded in compassion. Which is back to thinking about the Dalai Lama's writing on the link between compassion and authentic happiness.

[E]thics are necessary as a means to ensure that we do not harm others...genuine happiness consists in those spiritual qualities of love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness and so on. For it is these which provide both for our happiness and others' happiness.

Copyright 2006, Tony Plant Happystance Project