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Michele Armenia's avatar

Richard Rohr says " If we do not transform our pain, we will most certainly transmit it " Joel you are transforming the pain -- we all have pain and may we all transform it.

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Joel Goodnough's avatar

I suspect that my grandmother played a huge part in helping my grandfather to learn to love and be loved.

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Joel Goodnough's avatar

I think you’re right, though my grandfather had more pain to transform. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be an orphan.

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Michele Armenia's avatar

even we can't imagine some things it is good for me to try--helps me to be less judgmental.

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Joel Goodnough's avatar

Yes, I think that’s called empathy. We learned to develop empathy in our practice of medicine.

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Amy Reese's avatar

Joel, the grace and understanding you extend to your grandfather is beautiful. It takes a wise person to see past the negative actions to the root cause. I also hold space for the boy who was hurt by those negative actions. May we all learn to transmute our pain into something better and give each other grace and understanding. Thank you!

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Joel Goodnough's avatar

The beauty of writing is that it makes you think more deeply. I didn’t understand until I did the research on orphans.

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