Hideo-sensei's thought: On Compassion, Love, and the dilemma of "Loving yourself"

"A soul cannot live without love."

These are the words from St. Catherine of Sienna that I always ponder upon. I wanted to write this thought during my Holy Week break but due to time constraints, I couldn't.

One day, I posted about seeking self-help, and I have a stand about that. But for some reason, some of the comments prove that helping yourself is always an essential way. Still, I will fight my own stand  about this.

Like I said, self-help is not always essential in everyday life. Life needs a bit of compassion and love, but the problem is, we are too selfish to do so. Why is that? In this world, we always think of ourselves more than each other. The way we see ourselves in the mirror. The grades that our teachers gives us, or for those who are working, the evaluation our bosses gives us. The opinions that others will say to you. Yes, some of us will say that don't give a damn about it, and it is good. But, what  I am trying to say is that we ALWAYS think of ourselves. We always don't care if some one will cry or some one is depressed. We just let them to their ruin until they realized that they will help themselves; the last option that they will face in the end. I don't believe in that. We, people, have the ability to share our love, the love that God gave us, to others, especially those who are in dire need of it. We called it "Compassion". We always have that. It is just that we couldn't practice it for real.

Let me tell you something. We always have the dilemma that always circling in our minds; the concept of "loving ourselves or yourself". Yes, it is okay to regain your self-confidence. Yes, it is also okay to have self-respect. And yes, it is okay to boost your self-confidence. Those are good for you. But, if it is to much, it could lead to vanity and pride! So, sacrifice them for a while for the love of others.

"Love others MORE THAN yourself."

Yes, you must love OTHERS more than YOURSELF. Nothing more, nothing less. That is the root of compassion...LOVE, itself. It makes Jesus sacrifice himself for us. Yes, we admit that we are not Jesus, but we could be like Jesus. How? COMPASSION!

Love, as I always stated, is a commandment, and not a feeling. Ever since the beginning of time, we are commanded to love one other. And through love, compassion will come. Therefore, it will stop our dilemmas of loving ourselves.

We always fear of not loving back, but for me, I will set aside my fears in order to love others more. To be compassionate by giving a helping hand to a friend. I am not willing to be there and see him struggling to help himself/herself. I will be there to help him/her. Nothing more...Nothing Less...