In order to grow, you need sorrow; in order to become loving, you very often need distress, and turmoil is often required to release your deeper resources. Unless you have suffered yourself, it is not easy for you to understand those who are suffering acutely. Unless you have gone through some of the distressing vicissitudes of life, you cannot easily sympathize with others.
–Sri Eknath Easwaran, The End of Sorrow: The Bhagavad Gita for Daly Living, v. 1
[Title echoes lojong maxim #13: Be grateful to everyone.]
