How much compassion do YOU have?

So here's what happened - I was watching 'The Changeling' late one night - the one with Angelina Jolie - single mum from the 1920s whose son goes missing. Great movie and Ange was awesome. Not such a great movie to watch just before bed-time - full of spooky thoughts.

There's a scene in the movie (don't worry - I won't spoil the film!) where a serial killer who had a habit of butchering young boys is going to be hanged after having been found guilty. He climbs the stairs in terror and calls out the audience/witnesses, 'Someone say a prayer for me - someone pray for me.'

No one does. Not even the priest. Certainly not any of the family members who have maybe lost a child in his frenzied demented butchery.

And it struck me - can you pray for a murderer?

Can you forgive someone for hacking up your child? Can you feel compassion for someone who hurt and killed someone you love dearly?

My thoughts continued with, if we're genuine in our assertion that:

• We are all connected
• We are all made of energy
• We are all Source
• What we resist persists

Then it follows that compassion is the only response.

Compassion for a murderer. Compassion for someone who is so obviously disconnected from Source that in so much pain themselves that all they know is violence and hatred. Compassion for someone who killed your child.

It's a big ask.

Or is it?

I've never lost a child or anyone I loved in such a way and I am not sure how I would react personally if I was confronted with the man who took what I loved most in the world.

But I do know that if I made him wrong, if I vented hatred against him, if I wanted him to suffer as my loved one had suffered, then this would not bring peace. My hatred might feel better than despair for awhile (moving to a downstream thought - seeking relief), but if I harmed him as I had been harmed (by seeking the death penalty or retribution of some sort) this would be acting against my own Inner Being - the part of us all that is in resonance with love, peace, and joy.

How much love and compassion can you muster? Does it have a limit? Is it conditional?

I would love to know your thoughts on this one.