“Compassion for another is becoming part of her functioning life system.”

I was on the bus.  An acquaintance boarded.  “How’re you doing?”  I said.  She had the darkest aura, the saddest expression on her face.  She shrugged with a wry smile, stuck her hand out and shook it to indicate the ‘so, so’ gesture.  It looked like she wanted to smile, but couldn’t.   “Oh no,” I said.  I let her be then.  I didn’t run to sit next to her in the two-seater to chat it up.

Later she stood in front of my seat preparing to get off of the bus.  She slumped over the partition in front of the exit door in the back.  I looked at her dejected posture and said, “I hope things get better.”  “Well…  I don’t know…  it’s not good,” she said.  She continued sadly, “By the way I read your book.  It scared me a little but I liked it.”   I thanked her for reading my book and said, “I’ll be putting the good vibes out in your direction.”  I touched her hands.  I wished that I could make whatever was wrong with her go away.  For the rest of the ride I imagined what might be wrong.  It made me sad and my eyes watered.

Earlier I had seen another acquaintance with a sad aura.  A very young woman.  She was wispy and fragile.  A beautiful girl.  I know that she had experienced trials in the past and I remembered that because of the energy that I received from her at that moment.  I asked how she was doing and noticed her eyes.  There was something in there that made me sad.  Again I wanted to cry.

I thought about the empathic creature in this old Star Trek episode.  She puts her hands on a person to feel their pain.  This is what I felt like yesterday: