It seems to me that "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." is a simple quote, but it is one that shows who your friends are. My experience in this has shown me that this action takes someone who is willing to go that spot where you are and meet you there. The person who does not really care will simply say something like: "You need to lay that burden down" or "You need to take that burden to the altair" or even "You need to put that behind you". When a person says anything like that to me, I have learned that they only want to associate with people who mask their hurts and say "I'm ok".
I have learned that bad things happen. It doesn't mean that the victim is evil. The only person who does not go through bad things is one who never lived. And, even if the person who is the victim had done something wrong and caused the problem, it should not change how we perceive or treat them. When people have wept with me when I wept, they simply hung out with me because they loved me. They did not try to force me to wear a mask hiding my pain, but simply entered where I hurt just so I would know that it was all right to hurt and that they would be with me until I was able to heal or to reach a place where I could live with it.
It takes love to be able to do this. I mean that a person has to be devoted the victim and eager to honor them. A person has to put the victim's needs above their own wants. In short, this is love.
