# @breyeschow on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/ClmK_uEP7Tb
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/18917006-breyeschow-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/3d979bd881.jpg
- **Posted:** 2022-11-30T19:14:16.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Bruce Reyes-Chow (@breyeschow) — https://gondola.cc/breyeschow

## Caption

Sitting in my coffee shop today, a couple sat across from me and one of them immediately started into a diatribe about non-dairy milk alternatives and just not understanding why people drink oat, almond, etc. This person was getting more and more worked up, angry even, enough so that their partner had to start talking them down.

Clearly, this was a pattern. 

My smart-ass inside voice, "You think no longer using cow juice is bad, wait until you hear about abolition movements." 
Again, my inside voice.

Still, in this climate of violence, I kept one eye on this person, not enough to elicit a reaction, but enough to track if this was going to escalate into anything more. Was anything going to happen, probably not, but this person was wound so tightly, that no doubt something already has and will probably happen in the future.

So many things to pray for in response to this public display: for the partner and their emotional health and physical safety, for the person and whatever has created such a disproportionate perspective on the world, and for all of the collateral damage and initial impact of past and possible future actions.

It is said that we never know what pain is being held by others. And sometimes pain's manifestations are laid plainly and bare before us. Today's prayer is offered in the hopes that we wisely and empathetically hold one another pain in ways enough for us all to know healing.
 
God grant me

humility enough to pray for those in pain:
friend, family, colleague, enemy, or stranger.

wisdom enough to recognize how pain is made known:
tears, grumbling, growling, silence, or sass.

savvy enough to know how to respond to pain before me:
discretion, vigilance, intervening, listening, or leaving.

empathy enough to know that
the one in pain has been me
the one in pain will be me
the one in pain is also me.
Amen.
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Thanks to #Patreon supporters these resources are offered freely, so if your resources allow, please consider becoming a patron.

Feel free to share, repost, tweet, and use as you feel moved and tag @breyeschow on the socials.

For all links visit my #Patreon via the #LinkInBio.

#liturgy #prayer #weeklyword #pain

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## Credits

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bruce Reyes-Chow | @breyeschow | https://gondola.cc/breyeschow | Writer/Author |

## Tags

liturgy, prayer, weeklyword, linkinbio, pain, patreon

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