Member-only story
The Lightness and Weight of Compassion
Regardless of the lightness or weight that may ensue, it keeps us grounded, gives our lives some meaning.
Before the pandemic, I was a member of a Toastmasters club in Moreno Valley. We started the meeting at 615am on Friday morning. Yeah, a crazy time. I volunteered to drive one of the club members, Jimmy Ford, to the meeting. Jimmy was close to 90. He was a retired high school English teacher who had lost his wife 20 years or so ago, suffered from mild Alzheimer’s, and lost his left eye in a car accident. He couldn’t drive. On one Friday morning while on our way to the meeting, we talked about fear. Jimmy said his biggest fear was the fear of death and when Alzheimer’s got him. I asked him how he coped with these fears.
“Compassion,” he said. “Have you read Milan Kundera’s book ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’? He said compassion is heavy. I bury myself in compassion. I found comfort in helping the club and helping other members. Running a club is really tough, but so I forget my fear.”
Jimmy was a celebrity in the local Toastmasters community. He was a member for over five decades. For most of his Toastmasters career, he volunteered to serve as the Educational Officer, which is the most painful position in a club. Back in the nineties, he made the most…
