Having read an email a friend sent over today, I couldn't say anything except that I was lost for words…

I recently bought the latest issue of Buddhist Compassions and in it was a feature interview with Dr Tse Kin Chuen who has been actively involved in the promotion of hospice services and education about death for three decades. In this interview he cited a story about a middle-aged male patient who was terminally ill with cancer. The patient was enraged by social workers who came to visit him and encourage him during his stay in the hospital because he felt that these people did not understand him; he even thought that they were looking down on him and not being compassionate.

After hearing the patient's complaints, Dr Tse did not reason with him but instead agreed that he was angry too.

The patient went silent for a moment, then calmed down and said: "Well then, that's all I've got to say."

Sometimes words of encouragement may sound fake, but how can we teach other people how to live their lives? We might never know, as we can never experience other people's pain.

Simple words of encouragement may have made the whole gesture too casual. They might have sounded like empty words.

Thus, I ran out of words.

Yet ultimately,
I do care.

Please forgive me if I am ever too casual…

By Sidekick

*Translation from Chinese article