Ten weeks into my 52 Cards Project! This week my card expresses all my sadness for Ukraine and all the innocents in the world who get caught up in pain and violence, war and death. So senseless. My heart bleeds.

Whenever I think of war, I think of what Eckhart Tolle says about humans in A New Earth:

“The collective manifestations of the insanity that lies at the heart of the human condition constitute the greater part of human history. It is to a large extent a history of madness. If the history of humanity were the clinical case history of a single human being, the diagnosis would have to be: chronic paranoid delusions, a pathological propensity to commit murder and acts of extreme violence and cruelty against his perceived “enemies”—his own unconsciousness projected outward. Criminally insane, with a few brief lucid intervals.”

I also completed jury duty this week for a trial that ran over the last several weeks, and I am also feeling sad for for the people involved and and their families—and too many other families—who get caught up in generational, personal and societal cycles of violence. What is it going to take to heal these wounds and live in peace (and joy)?

When I was composing this card I considered the meaning of “bleeding heart”. Like for the word “snowflake”, I take deep issue with any arguments that propose that compassion and sympathy are “excessive” or that each and every individual is not unique and special. There can never be too much compassion or respect. So yes, my heart bleeds for all humans who can’t extend—or receive—both. Oh my heart. And yours too.

Bonus link:

Last week’s podcast from the inimitable Rob Bell. He does an excellent job explaining Soviet history behind the Ukraine war—and gives clarity of perspective to the crisis and to our shared human response. Highly recommended.