The transforming power of witness…

Since Monday night I have found myself looking for updates on Damar Hamlin several times per day. This morning when I read the words "remarkable improvement" and "neurologically intact." I felt relief and I felt joy.

Then I had to ask myself, why do I feel this way? Why do I care about Damar Hamlin? I've never met him. I've never heard his name before. I'm not a huge fan of the NFL or more specifically of the Buffalo Bills. And then I was reminded of a truth I have not felt in some time. "If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad."

I care because I saw him. I witnessed his body collapse like so many others. And the act of witness and seeing was an act of unknown connection between the two of us. I suffer because he is suffering. We suffer because we know he is suffering. I feel joy when he is recovering and we all now breathe a collective sigh of relief and continue to encourage and hope for his full mental and physical recovery.

Frederick Buechner says, “Compassion is the sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It's the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. ”

Dig deep…keep going.