Article February 10, 2020 Issue

Counter violence with compassion

Lyle Young

“Join the Compassion Revolution” was the headline on a recent cover of Maclean’s. The Canadian newsmagazine went on to say: “There’s an urgent call for more compassion as the last-gasp remedy for systems at the brink—politics, health care, the planet itself. But do we have it in us?” (July 2019).

I’ve been considering that we do indeed “have it in us” to bring healing compassion to a world wrestling with problems—most notably the violent attacks that have been committed by those who’ve felt misunderstood, marginalized, and isolated.

Often the individuals who have perpetrated these terrible acts have views that are abhorrent to most people. In some cases they’ve been recruited and indoctrinated by hate groups that have appealed to their yearning to belong. But however they’ve acquired their skewed beliefs, it is possible to help such individuals have sounder perceptions of themselves and others, and to heal feelings of marginalization before they are expressed violently.

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