How ironic it is that those who have the most love for their fellow humans are usually those who have gone through the most hell on earth. Why is that? Maybe it’s because it is impossible to deeply understand human frailty and suffering and have the resulting empathy and compassion without having gone through some of that suffering yourself.
But wait a second, wouldn’t most people say that rampaging mass murderers, rapists and violent felons of all sorts also have gone through hell on earth in some way ? Why did they turn out to be so hateful and violent when the person right next door, suffering a similar journey through hell, turned out loving and kind ?
I have no ultimate answer to that. But I do believe we have a choice to make each time we journey through our own personal hell, in all it’s manifestations from a minor heartbreak to an ultimate fatal catastrophe. With each trip through hell we pick up one of those bricks being baked there. We bring it back and have a decision to make. Do we throw it at those around us, or do we use it to build something to help those around us?
What are you doing with the feelings, emotions, revelations and ideas you have gathered from your journeys through hell?
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, owner of Napkin Dad Publishing.
Quote by me, a variation on one by Louis Scutenaire, 1905-1987, Belgian Surrealist writer and painter