Empathy is close to Godliness.

I read this article with the intention of tweeting about how this woman deserved to have her life in shambles.  How heartless is that?  The Holy Spirit of God quickly softened my heart as I read through her life situation.

Woman Who Assaulted TV Crew With Attack Dogs Speaks Out: ‘This Whole Story Is Ruining My Life’

Apparently, this single mother's breaking point (and cause for media attention) was that her daughter was SHOT at a kindergarten graduation party.  If that isn't enough, she had no income, her power had gotten shut off and her gas had gotten shut off.  Prior to all this she had spent a week in the hospital?!  If you have ever had the misfortune of spending more than an hour at the hospital during visiting hours, you should know how long a week is in the hospital.  Then, her daughter had gotten shot!

It is easy to write her off and say, 'Who in their right mind would throw rocks and sick their dogs on someone they don't even know, let alone, a journalist!'  The more I think about it, the more I think how I would have lost it in someway as well. Especially with my aversion to media outlets.  I can only pray that the fruits of the spirit would somehow filter out my own irrational behavior.

If I can't trouble myself with the details of someone else's troubles before judging their actions, then I need to re-calibrate my focus on Jesus, how He would see the hearts of others, and practice more empathy and forgiveness.

My heart began to soften and break for her, when I read some of what she said after the media frenzy had taken over her life:

“Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, you’re a star now!’ I don’t feel like a star. If this is what they call ‘being a star’ then guess what? Let me be the dirt,” she said in an interview with The Providence Phoenix. “I’d rather be just a pile of dirt. Because that’s how I feel. I feel like a bag of poop. I feel like nothing. I feel like the scum of the earth.”

She continued, "Am I going to ever be able to get another job? Will I ever be able to get another dog? Those are the things I have to think about. Is anyone going to want to rent an apartment to me? This thing, it might have gotten ABC [ratings]. . . Abbey might have gotten what she wanted. . . a promotion or [a] raise or whatever for the station. But at the end, was it really worth it? Was it really worth it? Basically, this whole story is ruining my life."

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law."
Romans 13:8

I hope that you haven't gotten as calloused as I have about people and news stories.  People who make mistakes deserve and are owed our love, given from Christ, whether we agree with their actions or not.  If you have, or are getting this calloused then we should consider re-calibration.