Today I read the words of Ajahn Sumedho: A life without generosity, respect, and giving to others is a joyless life. Nothing is more joyless than selfishness.

I contrast what Trump and cronies are doing with what Grant did when Lee came to him to surrender the Civil War.  From Heather Cox Richardson:

But the images of the wealthy, noble South and the humble North hid a very different reality. As soon as the papers were signed, Lee told Grant his men were starving and asked if the Union general could provide the Confederates with rations. Grant didn’t hesitate. “Certainly,” he responded, before asking how many men needed food. He took Lee’s answer—“about twenty-five thousand”—in stride, telling the general that “he could have…all the provisions wanted.”

By spring 1865, the Confederates who had ridden off to war four years before boasting that their wealthy aristocrats would beat the North’s moneygrubbing shopkeepers in a single battle were broken and starving, while the Union army, backed by a booming industrial economy, could provide rations for twenty-five thousand men on a moment’s notice.

Tuesday this week added extra trauma for many of us as we worried Trump would carry out the horrific things he said, but I continue to see how essential it is to stay with what we know is true, humane, and good. We do it for ourselves and the world. We feed and care for those who are hungry, and in need, and in that, we teach and feed ourselves on Joy which includes sorrow and grief, and happiness, tenderness, and care!