Dear Cruelty,

You continue to surprise me. Not that you exist. I'm not that ridiculous. I watch the news. I've done my time in a schoolyard. You exist all right, Cruelty. But for some reason I'm surprised when I personally encounter you; when otherwise mature and rational adults put you on display. Not long ago I learned that someone I care for, someone who I thought cared for me, at least a little, has been speaking cruelly about me. The discovery was, shall we say, disillusioning. You're at your most potent when you aim for the heart, aren't you Cruelty? Of course, in true optimistic fashion I attempted to deny it, to tell myself it wasn't true. But of course it's true. Well, you may leave a mark, Cruelty. You may leave a scar. But your work is never permanent. For as much as you're a part of human nature so is your arch enemy, Compassion. And I still believe, even after 39 years of witnessing human nature, that an act of Compassion can fling any act of yours into oblivion. I'm proving this to be true. The everyday kindnesses of friends, family and that stranger in the supermarket are already working to erase his affect on me. Already my heart is lighter. Your work is being undone, Cruelty. I have a theory that if I were to compile a list of all the instances of you in the history of the human race, from lions eating Christians to imperialism to Hitler, and compare it to a list of all the instances of Compassion, from separation of church and state to the WWI Christmas truce to Gandhi, that the scales would tip, ever so slightly, in favour of good. So, in the end you don't win, Cruelty. Any feelings of triumph you may experience will only ever be fleeting. Compassion will defeat you every time. And so, until we meet again, Cruelty. For unfortunately, I know that we will.
Sincerely,
PC