Billy, I’m not able right now to provide an essay on compassion from a buddhist perspective, but here’s a poem I wrote in 2016 that went to an incarcerated young person, sent anonymously through the Mind Body Awareness Project: Mindfulness & Life Skills for At-Risk Youth (http://www.mbaproject.org . You may find it suitable for your website.
Dear friend,
The world can feel cruel,
Making kindness seem like something for a fool.
Made me wonder why I should ever go to school.
When life knocked me down,
I hurt deep inside and struggled to get off the ground.
Saw nothing worth living for in town and around.
Like many others, I’ve gone through dark times.
Seemed like other kids got sweets when I got only limes.
The only thing I believed in was angry hip hop rhymes.
When life was dark, I looked at my past with regret,
I saw others as a threat.
Hearing empty promises for the future only got me more upset.
Then I learned there are ways to free my mind.
Realized even though we got eyes, we’re actually blind.
There’s unimaginable goodness in life for us to find.
With a glimmer of hope, I no longer felt confined.
Decided to leave my dark days behind.
Join a good fight somewhere with people unbelievably kind.
Set your mind straight, and life will be great.
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BILLY”S COMMENTS: It’s admirable to have kind thought. It’s real when compassionate action follows.
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