Better To Love Than To Pity

Google defines pity as "the feeling of sorrow and compassion caused by the suffering and misfortunes of others." [1]  In other words, to have pity, one must reference one's fortune relative to the misfortune of others.  The degree of compassion evoked is both subjective and relative, depending on how much worse is the person that is pitied than the person who is pitying, judged subjectively by the person pitying.  Therefore, it is entirely possible that the person who is pitied by the one pitying is  at the same time pitying the person who is pitying because each person is evaluating the other based on subjective standards.  The only commonality between them is pride, each thinking that he has more of what is desirable, whether it is fortune, intelligence, talent, good looks, good health and so on. Accordingly, pity can only arise out of pride.

One can easily point to a mendicant refugee too young and fearful to speak, to ask for water and food.  Certainly, this child can be pitied by those with more.  The question is more of what?  More innocence?  More integrity in the face of adversity?  Or more complaints, more anger, more bitterness?

If one ought not to pity another, how should one feel and what should one do when they see others befallen with disaster?  It would be reasonable to say that love would be appropriate, as would supplicating, asking God to bless them and watch over them, also be appropriate.  

One can assume that God would never pity any sinner, however dire his circumstances, because God is perfect and would not have the pride to make a relative assessment of misfortune to calibrate the degree of pity that would be appropriate; instead, God would have mercy on all who are imperfect because perfection is situated infinitely beyond imperfection, and thus if pity has to be felt by God, it would be infinite.  A constant amount of infinite pity is rather meaningless in contrast to divine mercy.  God's mercy leads to the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of souls; no amount of pity does that.

It is out of God's love for sinners that sinners receive the mercy of forgiveness, for no sinner will be able to bear the weight of divine justice.

As a sinner, this blogger has the requisite pride to pity  a number of the leaders that in his opinion had committed unspeakable atrocities against humanity, not so much because he is better than them but because he does not have enough love to give them to wipe clean the blood of so many they had spilt and to overlook their cowardice by attacking the weak and their lack of bravery to befriend the strong. 

[1] https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=pity%20definition