My heart went out to this woman, and my gut reaction was, “I wish I could teach this kid a lesson so she wouldn’t be such an obnoxious little brat.” At the bottom of the escalator then, the little girl, who, to her credit, had been quiet for at least 30 seconds now, turned to her mother, who was still carrying all of her bags, and pleaded her arms in the air in that familiar “carry me” gesture. Now I stood there, observing, imagining the mother thinking, “Yeah right, after all the frustration and annoyance you caused me, now you want me to pick you up when the train is on its way in less than 2 minutes?” However, what happened next truly helped me to realize why, in general, women are such merciful creatures when compared to many men…she locked eyes with her daughter, gave her a look of sympathy, and lifted her up to help alleviate her discomfort.
How quickly did her forgiveness come into play where not only was she not angry with this girl, but in fact went out of her way to help her. Part of the moral I got from this experience was to appreciate my mother. Anyone who is ungrateful to their parents should imagine that their mother likely went through some similar incredible acts of mercy towards you when you were little, no matter how detached she may be now, and that alone merits some respect.
The other lesson I derived was how humans really do have such a strong capability to forgive and overlook, it is just our choice to move that instinct aside for other instincts like revenge and pride. If we had that motherly forgiveness towards one another in the international political arena for example, how many wars and innocent lives would be saved? I know, I know it sounds far fetched, but again, my whole premise is that even at that level, international relations are made up of politicians who are humans too (even though it’s hard to believe sometimes), and if they all took some lessons from this mother, and their own mother, on compassion and forgiveness, perhaps not to their fellow politicians, but to those innocent people that inevitably suffer in most international conflicts, perhaps there would be some good by it?
