"Inflicting ourselves on one another"

Christopher Hitchens, a leading atheist dealing with terminal cancer, recently wrote an article in Vanity Fair. You can find the entire article here. It's sad to read the thoughts and words of a man without hope and without God as he nears the end of his life. He writes these words at the end of this article, "As the populations of Tumortown and Wellville continue to swell and to “interact,” there’s a growing need for ground rules that prevent us from inflicting ourselves upon one another."

"Inflicting ourselves upon one another" is at the very heart of compassion and care for one another. It's at the heart of being a human being. It's at the heart of caring for someone else God loves, but there is the rub. To have compassion for others in their struggles we have to know and acknowledge a loving and caring God who loves and cares for us. I'm glad to care for others because someone cares for me. My care for others in their struggle is a reflection of God's care and love for me in my struggle. Without God in the picture we each wallow in our own sad lives with no one to care or show compassion. Without God my woes are an infliction on someone else just trying to live their lives....

...But, with God as part of the story caring about me in my struggles, I suddenly understand how to care for someone else. It's no longer "Inflicting ourselves on one another" but now two people caring for each other as a reflection of a God who loves us and cares about our pain.

I'm sad for Christopher as he slowly dies without hope, without God and without a sense of the love of others who would lovingly welcome his struggle as their own. There's much more to the existence of God than we realize. It affects all of life....even how we view others...even how we view death.