Amidst all the emotions of being in a psychiatric hospital

– the highs and lows, the breakthroughs and the setbacks, the laughter and the tears  – I have been most affected by one thing: the depth of compassion shown by staff for patients and by patients for each other. It has been staggering and has moved me to tears on more than one occasion.

The impact of these simple deeds of loving kindness on the recipients has been profound. Strangers thrown together by unfortunate circumstance offer themselves to each other in quite remarkable ways. Out of the depths of distress and the frailties of the human condition come transforming acts of generosity. 

I like to consider myself a caring person, but I have been humbled, moved and challenged by what I’ve witnessed and the love I have myself received.

Those of us with a religious faith, will see in this the hand of the divine. But, whatever one’s worldview, one can simply rejoice in the very beauty of humanity. And say “thank you”.