In the movie, “Ticket to Paradise,” Georgia (played by Julia Roberts) is the ex-wife of David (played by George Clooney).  During their marriage, it always fell to Georgia to “do the hard stuff.”  Near the end of the movie, Georgia encourages David to take on a difficult task, smiling warmly and whispering, “You can do the hard stuff too.”  It is one of the pivotal moments of the movie, and the concept of “doing the hard stuff” has stuck with me.

In the context of the TOS Meditative Action Network, in which volunteers meditate on sending Light to difficult situations in the world, we have meditated on countless disasters, wars, and situations affecting millions of people.  We can’t help thinking of what the people involved must be experiencing, but mostly the work is done at the highest level we can muster, and we simply send Light to help in whatever way is most needed.

Recently a member of the network directed my attention to the unspeakable treatment of fighters captured by the other side in the Israel-Hamas conflict.  I expanded the meditation to include “all prisoners of war and hostages worldwide,” and sent the action alert as usual.  But somehow, this one was different than the rest.  Starting the meditation, I could sense the utter desperation and despair of people who are held hostage or prisoner of war.  I felt it was the hardest meditation the network had performed, yet no member of the network complained.  They were “doing the hard stuff” and nobody missed a beat.

Over the past few decades, we have witnessed so many stories of heaven and hell on earth—we see the depths of cruelty to which people will descend, and the heights of heroism to which people will rise.

• In the moments immediately following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, I recall reading reports of people who ran toward the bombing area, rather than running away, because they saw victims falling to the ground and ran back to help.
• Many people have donated a kidney to a recipient they will never know.  They do it to save a life.
• It is common for hordes of volunteers to show up in an area devastated by weather or other disasters . . . leaving the comfort and normalcy of their own homes and lives, they come to help, simply because they can.
• In Ukraine and elsewhere, people go to great lengths to rescue not only people, but also animals, in distress.  After a bombing near Kiev, rescue workers spotted a cat on a high ledge of a bombed-out apartment building.  The cat had suffered burns and needed help.  A ladder truck was commandeered and people worked together to lift a first responder to the level where he could rescue the cat (which recovered).

What is it in the human spirit that causes people to behave in such heroic ways?  Are we all wired this way, or do some people have “heroism genes” that others do not?  Most of us, mercifully, will never know how we would respond in dire emergencies.  Mostly, our lives are quietly routine, and although we have our difficulties, extreme drama is the stuff of headlines and movies.

Theosophy offers explanations. People are capable of cruelty because they remain ignorant of the Oneness of all life.  People are capable of heroism because they have long practiced helping and serving others, probably through many lives, and as they say in the East, for them there is “no other path to go.”  It is the infinite One Life at the core of our Being, both the source and the goal of our life and existence, which allows us to rise to the occasion, doing what needs to be done when emergencies present themselves.  So many people lauded as heroes say, “I just did what anybody would do.”  They cannot conceive of humans acting any other way.

People who do the hard stuff restore my faith in humanity.  No matter how chaotic life seems at times, I know that humanity will ultimately be okay because there are so many quiet heroes, and yet-to-be-tested heroes, among us.  Perhaps they ARE us.  Perhaps the potential for heroism lies in wait within us, or perhaps it has manifested many times. Of one thing I feel certain—when it comes to serving the One Life of which we are each a part, we theosophists, aware that at our core we’re made of the Infinite, can do the hard stuff too.

I invite each of you to join the TOS Meditative Action Network and help send Light to difficult situations in which people and animals are suffering . . . even when it’s hard.