Bleeding Heart

Someone called me this the other day in the context of my love for animals. It’s a phrase I’ve heard all my life, and one I haven’t generally taken to be a compliment.

Not that many years ago, I believe I would have taken it to mean something wasn’t exactly right with me. But this time, I thought about what had been said, and I looked up the phrase and its exact definition.

“Generally used to describe one as being too soft-hearted.”

The word that jumps out at me in this definition is too. I remember being called soft-hearted as a little girl. I cried for every dog I saw left on the side of the road. I cried for the pigs on my grandpa’s farm who were slaughtered at Thanksgiving. I cried for the horse standing in a neighbor’s pasture with icicles hanging from his whiskers and no hay in sight. Their suffering made me feel incredible sadness.

Is it possible for a human being to be too soft-hearted? If we are willing to accept that this world comes with a good deal of suffering, much of which is brought about by human choices, then maybe the answer is yes. Feeling for another’s pain is painful. It hurts.

But I would rather feel this hurt than not care. I would rather my heart bleed love and compassion than indifference.

Bleeding heart? I’m okay with that. Really okay with that.