Who I am.

I write about the landscape of grief, nature, and the wisdom of fools. The author of four books, my essays, poems, and reviews have been published in over 50 journals, including in the Huffington Post and Colorado Review. I’ve won the River Teeth Nonfiction Book Award, the Chautauqua and Literal Latte’s essay prizes, and my work has been nominated for four Pushcart Prizes and named a notable by Best American Essays. My account of hiking in Yosemite to deal with my wife’s death, Mountains of Light, was published by the University of Nebraska Press. http://www.markliebenow.com.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Bitterness or Compassion

(I am traveling to a grief retreat. This post is from the archives. New posts will resume next week.)

John asked about the connection between bitterness and compassion. After thinking about it for a week, I still have few conclusions. What I do have are random thoughts.

Bitterness is a bale of barbed wire. We wrap it around us and it protects us from getting hurt again by life. It also keeps the world from getting in.

* If you would like to read the rest of this post, let me know and I’ll send it to you. *

2 comments:

  1. I think it interesting that people usually pair the words bitterness, anger, reaentment, and unforgiveness together. To me, bitterness is something always directed at someone, that keeps us from forgiving them. I've felt it for the doctors who couldn't save my wife from cancer, people close to us who stopped calling me, and even at God. I had to reach a point where I knew that my bitterness was only hurting me, and that the only way to healing was forgiveness.

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