Tao Te Ching 49

The Master is good to people who are good. She is also good to people who aren’t good. This is true goodness.

She trusts people who are trustworthy. She also trusts people who aren’t trustworthy. This is true trust.
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Nondiscrimination is a lofty ideal seldom practiced.

Jesus told us to love those who persecute us; he said that even the sinners love those who love them. He called us to love the unlovable, which is another way of saying that we should love others as we love ourselves.

Heaven knows that we’re all less than good, less than trustworthy or less than lovable at any given time. Yet, in those times, we still desire and need, sometimes desperately, to be loved. When we are loved at our worst times, we feel truly blessed, and truly forgiven.

How can we withhold from others that which we so deeply need for ourselves? Nondiscrimination is a lofty idea seldom practiced. But it’s the only path to true goodness, true trustworthiness, and true love.