Well-Placed Compassion

Heard at a meeting:
This program has given me some compassion for myself. ~ Miranda
It's a good day to be a work in progress. ~ JT

Compassion: sympathetic pity and concern
for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.
We're taught from childhood to be concerned,
to be empathetic when others suffer.
And we who found our way to Recovery
learned that lesson well! We felt for everyone
except ourselves. We wanted sympathetic pity
for ourselves, recognition of our sufferings
and misfortunes, but felt we didn't deserve it.
Instead we found our drug of choice,
alcohol, drugs, gambling, food, whatever,
and buried our feelings, denied our emotions,
suppressed our needs to those deserving compassion.
Then, in these Rooms, we finally found our
passion, our fervor, our rights to feel.
We even reached the point we knew
we deserved compassion and despite
the definition, we could have it for ourselves.
Truly any day on these Rooms of Recovery
is an excellent day to be a work in progress!