Mercy in the Time of Hate is a Revolutionary Act.

Do not let this dark moment steal your humanity from you.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

One’s character is most fully revealed by one's ability to express empathy or lack of it. Indeed, empathy may be the most vital evolutionary trait that we as a species have cultivated. It ensures our survival because we seek collective success through supporting those who are afflicted.

As fires ravaged the hillsides of Los Angeles, tearing through homes, memories, and hearts of thousands, destroying lives, Americans found themselves in desperate need of empathy. Yet, Donald Trump’s first reaction was to mock, shame, and attack.

When confronted directly by Episcopalian Bishop Mariann Budde at the National Cathedral, who implored him to show empathy for the least among us, Trump’s response was to attack, vilify, and hate. It was a moment of profound clarity: a spiritual leader exemplifying the greatest teachings of Christ, while the President was forced to sit quietly and face the Christian message of mercy. The contrast was striking, and Trump found it intolerable.

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It’s not simply that Trump lacks empathy or the ability to console, comfort, or show mercy to the weak, downtrodden, and outcasts. No, what we are witnessing is far worse. He enthusiastically attacks the feeble and the vulnerable. In moments of great human frailty, and weakness, when compassion is needed the most, he chooses to hate those who cry out for help. To spit on the beggar seeking alms.

This is not merely a question of morality or religion. Nor, is it about justifying something one may see as immoral, decadent, or the failings of their own personal responsibilities. When a human being is so desperate that they confront their own mortality, the most instinctive human response is to offer consolation, relief, or respite from their existential pain. Christ did not judge nor condemn the outcast. He embraced them, humbled himself before them as children of God.

Empathy is what makes us most human.

Throughout history, we have considered the moral question of who would turn their back on the suffering of others. Who would ignore the cries of the desperate? What does it say about someone who would refuse mercy to those begging for relief from the powerful? Who turns their head at the sound of desperate cries for help?

But today, these age-old questions feel like wistful nostalgia. Today, many of our fellow Americans cheer attacks on the meek. They revel in the derision of the vulnerable. Applaud the mockery of the weak and disabled and join in the masses of rage and anger. These are the very mobs the Founders warned us about and sought to protect us from.

There are no greater weapons than love, kindness, mercy, and empathy. Only when we forget these virtues is hope truly lost. For everything, there is a season, and this dark time requires that we fight for what is good in each of us by protecting the least of us. Yet, even as we defend against hate, we must remember this eternal truth: only light can drive out the darkness.