Tansy Undercrypt

Amelia would enter the facility with her doll and her bear, wandering the halls until she found someone to adopt for the day. She would play for hours beside them, talking away cheerfully (whether they could engage or not), and occasionally holding their hand. Near dinnertime, Amelia would collect her things, beam her delight at them, and kiss them on the cheek – freeing their souls from this place and sending them on to the next with a warm memory of love and belonging. The Angel of Death is an agent of compassion and a master of disguise.

When they arrived at the Grey Havens, they found the hilltops densely forested, so lush and green they were jungle-like; it was a marvel to behold. After a period of silent admiration, Gandalf softly spoke, “Fallen tree ents grow here anew; it is the right of the firsts of the earth and the true victory of compassion.” Frodo looked at him puzzled. “Love – even for the land itself – never dies, you see,” the wizard said. “It cannot be rooted out.”

Iron Man blasted into the flames, the building beginning to collapse from back to front. The suit identified where the dog and her puppies were cowering, the mother refusing to leave them to save herself. He scooped them up and delivered them to a crying and grateful 90-year-old woman on the sidewalk outside; she gave him a $5 tip. Amused and deeply touched, he framed the money and hung it on the wall of his office at Stark Enterprises, where he often reflected upon it. Building rockets and saving the world aside, the little things really made life worthwhile.

“The spirit of compassion lives in all of us, awakened or dormant,” Tanget Rinpoche told the other monks who had gathered around him in the garden, “as does the spirit of revenge.” He gazed up at the far hill. “The first spirit can balance and guide the second. It can also repair a karmic imbalance if one exists.” Tanget’s mind drifted away to the day he’d pushed Brother Wu off of the mountain rope bridge to his death. He had never regretted it, but knew he’d have to practice compassion for the rest of his life to atone. He sighed and smiled.