Late Night in the Hood

I was up until 3 am last night. A neighbor came over to my yard at midnight while I was out letting my dogs go potty. She beat around the bush for a bit with small talk about the dogs and then suddenly burst into tears. It turns out her dad had just died and she wanted to talk to someone "spiritual" about it. By midnight I'm all done in, but I couldn't turn her away. I invited her in and just let her talk.

I knew I'd pay for it big-time today. By the time morning came I could barely stand up. I've had to double my steroids for the day, maybe tomorrow too. But you know, she was at peace when she left.

We didn't talk about Buddhism, we didn't talk about any religion. We talked about compassion-- for one's self and for others. We are all united by the common denominator of suffering and by the ability to transcend it through compassion.