Caring and compassion for others lead to the quality of authenticity, of being who you say you are and possessing truthfulness. “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama talks about empathy. Obama believes that empathy is not just demonstrating sympathy or charity, but something more demanding – a call to stand in someone else’s shoes and see through their eyes. If you witness or display cruelty or thoughtlessness toward someone, ask yourself, “How do you think that would make me feel, if it were directed at me?”

I recently read an article that talked about the old cliché, “The grass is greener on the other side of the fence.” What it said was that the grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence; it is greener when it is fertilized and watered. What a great metaphor for life.