Compassion Challenge: Day 10

We did this as a congregation in 2021 and I'm doing it myself this year. My life feels different now than it did 365 days ago, and I hope this will keep me grounded and help me live my faith.

Inspiring Compassion: The 30 Day Compassion Challenge. 30 days to explore the topic of compassion: Mindfulness, Compassion for Friends & Family, Self-Compassion, Compassion for All, Compassion for Our Planet.

Day 10 was Compassion for All. Just about every one I met.

It was not a good day, but it was no one's fault. Sometimes, when things go wrong, there are no bad guys. Shit just happens. And I kept reminding myself that we're all in this together.

I think I finally got the snafu resolved with Illinois Unemployment. You're not going to get a rant against government bureaucracy from me. I understand why it was especially complicated for me -- it had to do with fraud prevention -- and I just had to go through all the necessary steps to get it worked out. Every civil servant I dealt with* was professional and some were especially kind and helpful. As unhappy as I was about having to show up in person, to wait in folding chair, to produce my Social Security card and State ID and cell phone bill, to answer the same questions over and over, it was not the fault of any of the people I dealt with, who were just employees doing a necessary job.

Because of the low unemployment rate, the most easily accessible location never reopened after covid and I had to travel quite a way to do this. If I took a rideshare the whole way, both ways, it would $70 with tip. GULP! I'm now unemployed, I have to economize! So I figured I'd save $15 on the way home, when time was less important, by taking the car to the train and then using my train pass.

The woman who picked me up in her LYFT was pleasant enough. But then after a few blocks she pulled into a Walgreens parking lot. Her car just wasn't handling right and she didn't think it was safe. I appreciate her caution, but here I am, in an unfamiliar neighborhood, with a train to catch and no way to get home. Still, this woman needs her car to make her living and it wasn't running well -- I smelled something very bad when I got out -- so there was no point complaining to her. She was unhappy enough.

I called an Uber. By the time it arrived, I would never catch my train. It wasn't the Uber driver's fault that it took her 8 minutes to reach me, and that by now traffic was picking up. I was miserable about wasting money this way, but it was no one's fault.

The first chapter of Joe Maddon's book is "Whatever You Put Out There Comes Back to You." I tried to keep my favorite Cub skipper's voice in my head as I traversed yesterday's rocky path. It is my hope that if I treat everyone with patience and compassion, that's what I will receive in return.

And you know what? Even after a tiring and rather difficult day, I was in an OK mood. Lesson learned.

*Except one. But let's accentuate the positive.