“When a person offended we said to ourselves, ‘This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done.’”
The problem with the word ‘sick’ in modern English is that
it is laden with senses other than merely being unwell. There’s also a
considerable intolerance, contempt, and fear of sickness itself, which does not
help matters.
The point of saying, ‘this is a sick man’ is that we are
supposed to develop compassion and understanding in response to this.
In order to preserve the substance of this phrase now the
language has changed, I have taken to substituting one of the following, which
generates the right response in me:
- This person (like me) is innocent
- This person (like me) cannot see
- This person (like me) does not understand
- This person (like me) is not doing well
- This person (like me) I should have understanding and
compassion for
- This person (like me) is having a tough time
- This person (like me) is going through a lot
- This person (like me) is muddling through the best they
can
- This person (like me) is not playing with a full set of cards