Editorial August 22, 1988 Issue

Benevolence

Michael D. Rissler

It's an interesting word. When you hear it, it has a "soft" feel about it. Yet we can't really afford to allow good works to come to mean something soft as in "less-than-practical" or ineffective or weak. Doing good takes guts, whether one is a statesman taking an unpopular position or an average parent negotiating the challenging pathways of raising a family.

Doing good means all that stamina means. It means all that moral courage means. It means all that strong and resilient mean. And the often unexpected result is that when we strive for what those qualities signify, there develops an inner strength that's tempered like steel, yet which can be as gentle as a friend's comforting, but silent, presence.

Even when we fear we aren't strong enough to measure up to some challenge, we can learn that there is a spiritual power upon which we can draw. I know a woman who felt nearly crushed by overwhelming challenges when her children were young, her husband out of work, and her own mother in great need. But she said she prevailed because she loved each one so much that she couldn't stop doing whatever was necessary to overcome those hard times.

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