Smart Quote of the Day February 17, 2025

If you have been brutally broken, but still have the courage to be gentle to other living beings, then you’re a badass with the heart of an angel. Keanu Reeves

I love this quote and the image it inspires. I know so few people who haven’t suffered in some way–the ones who have escaped pain are the exception, and not the norm in this world. Most everyone I know is broken in some way. There are degrees of suffering, I know, and what one person considers brutal may be another person’s mediocre. But no matter how much we have suffered, it’s how we treat others that matters. It’s the way we rise above the suffering, the way suffering teaches us about compassion, that is important.

None of us can know what another has endured even if they tell us, because hearing about something is not the same as experiencing it. Most people carry hidden wounds that still fester, hidden scars that never see the light of day but color everything they think and feel about themselves. Give those people your smile. Sit and listen if they need to talk. Sometimes that’s all they need to relieve some of the pain they carry.

That’s it. Go forth and be a badass with the heart of an angel.