In This Strange Task of Living

“In their fear your forefathers gathered you too near together . . .”¹ wrote Kahlil Gibran. If we live too far apart, life is lonely, but in quarters too close there is often fault-finding, tension and flares of temper, and some lack of the kind of privacy that is so precious and important. There are moods and problems and worries with all of us, and we vary in attitude and in reaction⎯often not understanding others⎯often not understanding ourselves. And always there is need for patience, for compassion, as people face the tides and tempests of life, searching always, often feeling their way uncertainly⎯sometimes with disappointment, hurt pride, frustrations, and often feeling unappreciated. And yet we all owe much to many, and we need to express appreciation to others, even as we need to feel appreciated ourselves; and we need to keep our patience, with an awareness of other people’s problems as well as of our short tempers, by cutting comments, by cold indifference, or by being thoughtlessly unkind. “What do we live for,” asked George Eliot, “if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?”² Perhaps the intent of this appeal for patience and understanding is summarized somewhat by some heartfelt words of Whittier, “O brother man! Fold to thy heart thy brother, Where pity dwells⎯The peace of God is there.”³ Not pity only, but compassion, understanding, respect, kindness, patience, appreciation. As Martin Armstrong put it: “Let us be patient, wise, forgiving, In this strange task of living . . .”⁴ “What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other.”