Have a Heart

Staci here, on my every other Saturday.

Compassion is a hard concept to nail down. You always hear, “Show a little compassion,” but what exactly does that phrase mean? Does running into a burning building to rescue a tenant count as compassion? Not really, as that’s more a demonstration of heroics. Would helping a little old lady cross the street fall under compassion? I’d categorize that more as kindness. Does letting an out-of-work relative sleep on your sofa and eat all your cheese doodles count? That’s usually a sense of obligation.

After several more examples that weren’t quite correct, I broke down and looked up the definition of compassion. According to Merriam-Webster, compassion is the “sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” That clears things up a bit. It’s not so much the actions that people take that count as compassion, but the feelings that lead up to those actions. Without compassion, people might not be inclined to act when they notice a lost child at the mall or see a homeless family living on the streets. Without compassion, people would live in an “every man for himself” society with never a good deed done, unless it somehow benefitted the person doing the deed.

At times, a lack of compassion seems to permeate today’s society, with everyone focusing on themselves, cutting others off in traffic, trying to beat the other guy. But then you read the paper, and there are countless acts every day that are based on compassion: the woman who started a non-profit to help battered women find jobs, the police officer who raised money to replace the motorcross bike that someone stole from a six-year-old, the man who spends every weekend cooking and delivering meals to the homeless.

Turns out, the world isn’t a cold, heartless place after all. Lots of decent people want to help and often do, which then inspires others to do the same. What are some acts of compassion that you’ve witnessed recently?

Comments

[Ann]

The volunteers for the local no-kill animal shelter, who spend time with the dogs and cats that have no homes... Does that count? :-)

[Staci]

Absolutely! Those wonderful and devoted volunteers make a huge difference in those animals' lives.