Buddha of compassion

"In this view, I saw not only the suffering that I caused in others, but the suffering in me that triggered my behavior. When the Buddha says we should "understand" the First Noble Truth, this is what he means: opening to our pain and that of others. Some years later, soon after the Rodney King beating, I heard Thich Nhat Hanh, the widely respected Vienamese Zen master, speak. He said that when he saw the video on television, he naturally felt great compassion for King, but he also felt compassion for the police who were yielding their nightsticks. He said he understood that they, too, were suffering, that the rage they carried inside that set off this behavior was painful, and that in order to fully comprehend these events and respond to them with real skill, we had to see this, we had to know the suffering of both victim and perpetrator. This is what opened up for me as I wrote these pages of inventory, August turning September, the late summer heat sweltering in Los Angeles; I saw that this inventory, all of it - my pain and the pain of those I had hurt - was equally deserving of my compassion.
For weeks this went on. I committed to writing at least one page per night. Rarely did I exceed my quota. Recoiling from memories, I had to drag the words out to paper.
What's odd about the inventory is that, for me, it was an admission that I had power in the world, power to hurt others, which I'd never acknowledged. Besides denying my responsibility. I'd also often denied that my words or actions could have any effect on anyone. . So, even though what was revealed was painful and destructive, just admitting that I had hurt others was empowering. In fact, inventory is a review of past karma. To pretend that our existence doesn't affect others is to deny karma, to deny that every action has a reaction, to pretend that cause and effect aren't constantly in play. "

From the chapter on Step Four, "One Breath at the time, Buddhism and the Twelve Steps", Kevin Griffin.