Do You Notice My Pain?

— by Craig Bourne

If someone staggered toward you with an
arrow sticking out of his chest . . .

If someone staggered toward you with an arrow sticking out of his chest, and blood dripping from the wound, you would probably recognize that the person might be in massive physical pain. Admittedly, an arrow in someone’s chest is pretty obvious! But, around you every day are people who have been wounded with arrows of loss and heartache . . . can you see their wounds?

Just because a person is not bleeding — is not crying out in pain — does not mean that his wound is any less severe.

To the man with the arrow in his chest, it is unlikely that you would say, “Don’t feel bad, at least it wasn’t a poison arrow,” and just keep walking past him. More likely, you would say, “My gosh, you must be in terrible pain. Let me call an ambulance.”

This is what we are called to do: notice another’s pain and offer help. Offer words of sympathy and concern. Too often we hear ‘advice’ to the injured one or admonitions to ‘keep a stiff upper lip’. Too often we hear suggestions made to the suffering person that she should be thankful that things aren’t worse than they are.

So . . . here’s your homework assignment! Look for people who have been wounded. Look for people who have been struck by an arrow, even if it is not readily visible. Then offer comfort. Offer care and kindness.

The mission of the Care and Kindness Conference is to train people and equip them with greater skills and greater sensitivity to the needs of people around them.

The goal of the Care Capsule is to provide additional “capsules” of motivation to dispense care and kindness.

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