The Road Less Travelled

It is very tempting in tough times to give up on loved ones, humans and animals alike. Sometimes their illness or mental sickness takes too much of our time, energy or finances. There are so many reasons we can give to justify to ourselves why we leave them out from our lives, emotionally or physically. We could be present physically but emotionally we have cut them off. There is no heart.

It is all well and good when they are healthy and can serve our purpose. When they can no longer do that, then we claim that we don't have time, that we were not taught to care for others and a multitude of reasons. The "love" is very conditional. Whatever religious practice we come from, we are not responsible for another's life and decisions  but we are responsible to ourselves not to harden our hearts out of pure convenience.  Because  "Our true nature is inherently bright like the sun, And the sun is eternally shining." -Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche 

" We should come to understand that all beings are capable of actualizing their innate nature, just as the Buddha himself did. With respect to other beings, no matter how much trouble or pain they cause us, no matter how difficult they are, we should promise ourselves that we will never give up on them. We will keep them close to our hearts, because they too possess buddha nature, they too can become Buddhas themselves" from the book Living Fully by Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche

All beings have higher consciousness no matter what form they may appear to us, irrespective of the religion.