Compassion: The Writer’s Gift

1535545_768962449855452_8650617504481872844_n1Today Write On Sisters is taking part in 1000 Voices Speak for Compassion, a movement intended to flood the internet with 1000 blog posts on this important topic. You can learn more about the movement on the founder’s website:  http://yvonnespence.com/. And onTwitter at the hashtag #1000speak.  

Compassion. How can we expect a single word to sum up everything that’s most admirable about humanity? And yet, this one does. It transcends age, gender, religion, nationality and race. When we strive to live lives rich with compassion, it forces us to reach deep inside ourselves and tap the best and brightest parts of our souls.

Writers use words as tools. We heat them with our enthusiasm, and we hammer them together with our zeal, and in the end we craft them into prose. The product of our handiwork often becomes more valuable to us than gold.

For the best of us, the writers that will go down in history and remain relevant and read for decades to come, pounding out words produces something remarkable. These special writers use ink to explore the human condition, and they do it with the precision of surgeons. They root out the social cancers and expose bigotry and hate. They whittle on a government’s carcass until the corrupt skeleton is bare for all to see. They carve a path to our hearts, forcing us to reflect on the painful and the profound. And then with more words, these writers mend and reconstruct our hearts, leaving us empowered, enlightened and hopeful.

In the safety of a gifted writer’s literary embrace, I learned to care about people I will never meet. I found the strength to forgive people who judged me by my gender or ethnicity. I became a better mother, wife and person, with more love, respect and compassion to give others as the legacy of another writer’s words. And I am grateful.

I don’t think every writer is meant to create world-changing literary magic. I know I’m not. But I sleep better each night knowing that members of my brethren are up to the challenge. I have faith a new writer somewhere is gathering their tools and forging a message so powerful, that my children’s children will treasure it as more valuable than gold. And that faith fills me with joy, and makes me proud to be a writer.

Please take the time today to read some of the wonderful writers participating in this blog hop. You can start here with Just Gene’O and his message on Compassion and Nonviolence.

 

Author: Robin Rivera

Robin trained as a professional historian and worked as a museum curator, educator, and historical consultant. She writes mystery fiction, with diverse characters and a touch of snark. She's currently working on two new manuscripts that started off as NaNoWriMo projects. You can follow her on Facebook(https://www.facebook.com/robin.rivera.90813). However, Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/RRWrites/) is where her inner magpie is happiest of all.

10 thoughts on “Compassion: The Writer’s Gift”

    1. Hi Kimmie,
      Thanks! It was a fantastic day, filled with wonderful posts. I hope you had the chance to read some of the others. Very inspiring stuff being sent around the web that day. : ) I’m glad you came by.

  1. You took part in #1000Speak, too?? 😀

    Gosh, Robin. You worded this so eloquently and so truthfully. I feel like I should be doing more in response than simply nodding my head and agreeing with each point. Writers do every single thing you listed. So, in a way, we’re agents of compassion. Of course, we can’t be afraid to show the opposite actions, either – violence, brutality, cruelty, unkindness, etc. It’s our duty to show both sides of the coin, the beautiful and the ugly. Exploring and showing contrasts is part of storytelling. And when we as writers embrace both sides, our stories are stronger and better for it.

    It’s funny, my WIP is one of the reasons why I ended up doing #1000Speak. Vengeance and forgiveness are two of the story’s major themes. So I couldn’t not join the movement. If I didn’t, my characters would probably throw fits at me. *lol* 😉

    1. Hi Sara,
      I think often when writers are most powerful is when they dip into the heavy stuff. And I think this is true of fiction and nonfiction. I’m so glad you enjoyed #1000speak. It was a great day filled with memorable writers. Thanks!

    1. Hi Gene’O,
      Since you were the one to ask me to join the movement it only seems fitting to give you a mention. 🙂 Thanks again for inviting us.
      I was crazy all day Friday and today, that’s what happens when your house is the homebase of the big D and D game. But I will be making up for lost time Sunday with both #1000Speak and #weekendCoffeeshare.

  2. I know what you mean by how writers can impact people and their lives..

    I have been deeply influenced by many myself.

    Lovely post 🙂

    Thank you for sharing 🙂

    1. Hi Tamara,
      Just doing my small part. : ) It was a honor to be included in such a special event. Thanks for dropping by. It was a bit overwhelming yesterday, I read as many posts as I could, but I only got to about 20 of them. More for today!
      Thanks again for the comment.

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