A DAILY MESSAGE

Hokitika Guardian, 30 May 1929, Page 1

A DAILY MESSAGE

UNDERSTANDING. [ often wonder what that rare and wonderful thing we call “ understanding ’’ really is. Some will say it is “sympathy”; yet sympathy does not always understand. Even where it feels, sometimes sympathy even hurts. Some will say it is “ kindness ” ; yet many nets of . kindness leave ns cold and lonely—and understanding never does that. Some will say it is “imagination”; yet imagination without sympathy is luit an expression of Lhe intellect, and understanding is essentially a thing ol the spirit. Sympathy, kindness, imagination, are great qualities, hut “ understanding,” which seems to he a blossoming of all our intuitions, is all of them—and something more. An'd those who possess the “something more ” arc l those rare souls who understand the burden, the ache and 1.. c sorrow, of other men—without being told. The understanding person does not need to lie told, and he rarely blames, because lie understands. What gulfs are bridged by understanding! Two souls wlio but a moment ago were strangers, meet—and understand. A hundred men will scorn the outcast, but one bends down to pity—tlie one who “ understands.” A hundred women will draw their skirts from her whom some woman’s son started on the path to perdition; but one will stay, and give the helping hand—tho one who understands. The understanding icllow is the one we want near us in our dark and lonelv hours, if or understanding soothes the spirit of man, like some ethereal kiss upon his brow. How many gifts would be bridged in life, if we only “understood.” —M. PRESTON STANLEY