Dear Diary,
Yesterday was Memorial Day, and something clicked last night. In the Army, we have a mentality drilled into us; I believe all of us soldiers who ever for a moment wanted to be a soldier never needed the drilling, which can be stated plainly: “Never Leave a Man Behind.” While its primary usage is to ensure we recover the fallen in battlefields and bring them home, in practice we apply it to those needing assistance in various areas in life; we try to offer help to our brothers (sisters, and gentlethems) in arms to not ‘leave them behind’ when we see them struggling.
In the early stages of Buddhism, the goal was to escape the cycle of death and rebirth through enlightenment. However, a bit later (The 1st Century CE, give or take), a different thought emerged, known as the Bodhisattva Vow, in which practitioners promise not to attain the final goal until every last soul has done so. My personal favorite Bodhisattva is Ksitigarbha, who travels through hell. Ksitigarbha does not atone your karma for you, but ensures you will not be alone or unseen, stays with you, and gives you an opportunity to burn your karma off and give things another, better try.
I feel I have aspects of Ksitigarbha and Bodhisattvas as a whole. I work with troubled people who yearn to be seen and heard, and who have often made it far too late in life to have never (or at least too rarely) had an ear present without judgment. I’m a lighthouse; I show people where to go and where not to, but I do not walk a path for them. However, I feel strongly about keeping the light on for all passing souls, whether they choose to interact with me or not, and whether they need me for just a glance or the whole journey. I refuse to leave anyone in the dark.
Days like Memorial Day are difficult, as I try to balance my desire to have done more for the fallen with an understanding that it isn’t my sole responsibility to have carried them through the entire journey. I also try to balance understanding that there are people who wish to be more helpful, but lack means, with people of means who couldn’t care less about anyone but themselves. It is challenging to live in a consumption-based society where we put profit above people at every opportunity. I do not feel at home here.
For my Christian audience, I am not the first to ponder if Jesus was also a Bodhisattva, someone who refuses to give up until there are no more vagrant souls. While the methodology may differ, the idea of compassion is similar, and therein lies the underlying point of my sadness. The general lack of compassion at a societal level. While there are plenty of individuals, like myself, and small organizations from churches and monasteries to individual businesses, which do not forget about people and the environment (one and the same), at some level of scale, compassion is sacrificed for capitalism and it causes more casualties. Will it ever be enough?
Leave No Man Behind.