An Essay On Compassion In Houston

Barbara Lazear Ascher writes a well formed essay on the concept of compassion. Compassion is something that we do for others out of the kindness of our hearts. She focuses more on the poor, just how we show them sympathy, why do we do such things. Is showing empathy from our hearts or just for them to go away. I enjoyed this essay due to the fact, that she gives humanistic reasons on why people are compassionate, she doesn’t sugar coat anything, and lastly she breaks down the compassion that she sees everyday.

Are people born with a complete quandary when it comes to compassion or is it something that has always been there? Barbara Lazear Ascher, born in 1946, writes, “On Compassion.” Having lived in New York City, Ascher is able to take first hand examples from the city to show the affection people have towards each other. Ascher is able to illustrate that compassion is something that has to be taught because of the adversity at people’s heels by including tone, persuasive appeals, and the mode of comparing and contrast in her essay, “On Compassion.”

Compassion is learned through experience and seeing those less fortunate; it brings out sympathy because one cannot ignore it when unfortunate people are everywhere.

Often when using the words of empathy and compassion, many people envision them as having similar meaning. While they may share similar circumstances, they are actually quite different. Empathy is more of an emotional response with an understanding of a person’s particular situation; whereas compassion is an emotion that arouses an active response to alleviate a distressful situation. Nevertheless, these dissimilar expressions are paramount in the way people respond to the individual needs of others and how they reach out to others in their local communities. Barbara Lazear Ascher’s essay “On Compassion” not only creatively offers a very detailed description of the day in the life in New York City, but effectively draws a picture of

Compassion to me is the showing of love and affection to all, regardless of who they are, or where they come from. An example of how I live a life of compassion is not only apparent in my work ethics

It is well-known that life in this world is hard, always waiting for the ugly truth from people to preoccupied with their own lives to care. We know empathy and compassion only stretch so far. Having seen how uncompassionate people seem to be, Barbara Ascher, the author of on compassion, expressed that having such traits makes us a better people and the adversity at our feet keeps it ever so prevalent. We aren't born with compassion, we are taught such characteristics. Through the use of imagery, rhetorical question, and allusion, Ascher compels her audience that learning compassion and having adversity at our doorstep is a need for our society.

Sympathy is pity or compassion felt for another sufferings. Empathy is the projection of one’s own personality into the personality of another in order to understand better. Compassion is sorrow for the sufferings or trouble of another.

Compassion can be defined in different ways. Compassion is caring for others. It is being able to understand how one feels and suffer with them. Compassion is unconditional love for another. It is a wondrous trait which is shared by all living things. This is the trait which I value the most about myself.

This is due to the impact of the altruism experienced by individuals, which compel them to pay forward the kindness to other people, starting the chain of compassion. This concept is further proven by a study conducted on an episode of National Geographic’s educational series Brain Games entitled “Compassion”, wherein the effect of compassion on individuals was tested and observed. In the episode, several subjects were tasked to apply hot sauce of varying levels of spiciness to an individual’s meal, without that person knowing. After half of the subjects were accidentally bumped by the main subject, the study found that 100% chose the highest level of spiciness. However, the other half were shown compassion by the individual right after bumping them by apologizing and offering to help them up, and 100% of the subjects chose the lowest level of spiciness . The experiment found that once people witness and experience acts of kindness, they are naturally inclined to show compassion to others as well (“Compassion”). Psychologist David R. Hamilton from the Manchester Buddhist Center confirms that individuals who experience compassion firsthand “…bring about chemical and structural changes to their [sic] brain that will help to establish kindness circuits” (Hamilton 53-56). In

Compassion is not a one sided emotion. One does not simply have compassion on someone else and not feel any compassion personally. Having compassion on yourself can boost your self-esteem as well as your spiritual life. I learned about this first hand while I was on three different mission trips to the City of Children in Baja California, Mexico. My heart ached for the children living there, but in all actuality they were, for the most part, happier to be there than the neglected homes they came from. Through all their struggles, they had

3. Compassion can means recognizing others that they are suffering and wanting to help them.

Compassion is an international Christian ministry that is dedicated to the development of children living in extreme poverty in 26 developing countries. By collaborating with local Christian churches in communities worldwide, they are able to care for the spiritual, economic, social, physical, and emotional development of children. Compassion’s mission statement is “In response to the Great Commission, Compassion International exists as an advocate for children,

Compassion is the emotional response when perceiving suffering and involves an authentic desire to help. “Human suffering is often accompanied by beautiful acts of compassion by others wishing to help relieve it” (Seppala). Having compassion also means that you offer understanding and kindness to others when they fail or make mistakes. It’s been said that “we only tend to learn to be compassionate only after we have suffered ourselves” (Hood). Having compassion for one shouldn’t be any different than having compassion for another. The key to developing compassion in your life is to make it a daily practice. Although there are many classifications of compassion, three different types are used every day: health and well-being, compassionate relationships, and self-compassion.

Should you find yourself in a disaster, helping others is most likely not your first thought. The more rational probe for a way to survive safely, they usually worry about themselves first, and others second. In the Novel Hiroshima by John Hersey, even though many of the main characters are hurt, run to assist others. Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, and Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, who were in the thick of it lacked any authentic reason to help others, yet they still made the effort to try. The disaster that befell Hiroshima was an atrocity, however, it did bring the community closer. Compassion in all forms, enthralls those who have nothing to gain to help others, regardless of the repercussions or sacrifices.

Over the past four weeks, I did not receive lessons like I had done before, but I had chance to see some gorgeous things in the green land named Dorothy Day Food Pantry (DDFP). I used to notice that the poor were always thinking how they could have more money, have more food, get rid of the life without happiness, entertainment. They have to work from early mornings before the sun has risen until after the sun sets. But one thing that I did not know was that, along with working hard, the poor still live optimistically. Furthermore, I could see a new epidemic called ‘compassion’, the love story of a spouse.