Encountering another is celebration.

When you see and compare yourself with others, comparison is never healthy. The only appropriate way of encountering another is, in the most profound way, a celebration. You may not find you can celebrate another’s behavior, but you can celebrate the reality of another. You can celebrate what you may learn from another. You can celebrate what you can give to another. You can celebrate your equality as you experience the human form of life. You can celebrate your belonging to the totality of God. There is too much to celebrate to allow for comparison, for comparison intimates more value/less value, more worth/less worth. There is nothing to compare in human life. There is only what can be celebrated.

You are aware of others who suffer greatly from wars, famine, other natural events, and you may consider yourself to be fortunate not to be encompassed by strife, but that does not mean in any way that you are in a better position than another, that you somehow deserve what you have. You can only celebrate that in its most fundamental way you are experiencing life, and you are to learn from that experience. Someone else experiences a very different life and will learn from those experiences.

By celebrating all human life, you encounter others more lovingly, with more compassion, with more patience. Compassion is a recognition of being loving. It is a recognition of what binds you together, and it is that bond that is celebrated. You are not asked to celebrate the suffering that another may be going through but to celebrate how you are the same, how you share the gift of life.