Barbara Lazear Ascher's Essay: Compassion

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss (...) These people have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen” (Elisabeth Kubler-Ross). Compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern make mankind beautiful, but it also makes it defenseless . When one has concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others, he takes sacrifices, risks, and lives with uncertainty. When man is compassionate, he lives a vulnerable life. Love and compassion bring out the beauty in mankind, but they can also bring out its weaknesses. Because of man’s compassion, he

Compassion is a feeling that humans portray towards others, but you also have to act in some way to aid them and to decrease their suffering. Barbara Lazear Ascher's purpose “On Compassion” of her essay was to distinguish emotions that people feel towards homeless people. She posed the question of whether or not people feel compassion or pity towards homeless people. The thesis

Albert Schweitzer once said, "The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others". Barbara Lazear Ascher writes about fear versus compassion in her article "On Compassion". She addresses whether humans act off of the feeling of fear, or sheer compassion for others. Ascher takes advantage of rhetorical strategies, such as ethos, pathos, imagery, details, and point of views, to effectively express his personal experiences that invoke the difference between fear and compassion.

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.”

Asher’s word play is remarkable, especially her use of rhetorical questions. She questions every action of a person, making the reader wonder why they did something. Her essay was really able to make me analyze myself and why I do things. She is able to capture a small detail that completely changes the situation, like when the mother’s “hands clos[ed] tighter on the stroller’s handle” (56); this little movement makes the reader feel like the mother gave the money out of fear instead of

Always, I was told from parents and elders that anyone can achieve their dreams through arduous work and dedication. Surprisingly, I hadn’t pondered this until I observed a shivering homeless person standing at the corner asking for help on one snowy, frosty winter day. This affected my life greatly. On the way, I just started thinking about the life of homeless people and how they are not fortunate enough to get their own place to live, their choice of delicious food to eat and several other amenities that we all enjoy in our everyday lives. An incident, like this, sparked an enthusiastic sense of compassion and empathy in me. Along with my family, I started thinking deeply and my thoughts to help the homeless expanded to other areas and I wanted to start helping the community around me as much as possible.

Barbara Huttman’s “A Crime of Compassion” has many warrants yet the thesis is not qualified. This is a story that explains the struggles of being a nurse and having to make split-second decisions, whether they are right or wrong. Barbara was a nurse who was taking care of a cancer patient named Mac. Mac had wasted away to a 60-pound skeleton (95). When he walked into the hospital, he was a macho police officer who believed he could single-handedly protect the whole city (95). His condition worsened every day until it got so bad that he had to be resuscitated two or three times a day. Barbara eventually gave into his wishes to be let go. Do you believe we should have the right to

The use of symbolism and imagery is beautifully orchestrated in a magnificent dance of emotion that is resonated throughout the poem. The two main ideas that are keen to resurface are that of personal growth and freedom. Furthermore, at first glimpse this can be seen as a simple poem about a women’s struggle with her counterpart. However, this meaning can be interpreted more profoundly than just the causality of a bad relationship.

Ascher believes observing the adversity of homelessness is a necessity in learning compassion because “Compassion is not a character trait. . .It must be learned, and it is learned by having adversity at our windows” (Cohen 42). Ascher believes we can learn and grow from others' adverse experiences without being a part of it. Although Ascher would have us believe we can learn compassion simply through observing adversity at our windows (homelessness), Eighner would likely disagree because he has struggled in adversity and learned the importance of true sentiment first hand, not through observation. Eighner writes of the importance of having an intimate connection with adversity in his own homelessness, “Once I was the sort of person who invests material objects with sentimental value. Now I no longer have those things, but I have the sentiments yet. . . .The things I find in dumpsters, the love letters and ragdolls of so many lives, remind me of this lesson” (Cohen 157, 158). Eighner has grown and holds sentiment in those lessons because he had those experiences, not because he has simply observed others. Ascher gives us a lesson in learning from adversity but does so from an outsiders' point of view while Eighner's personal experience contrasts to shows us that much can be learn from experiencing adversity more intimately.

Compassion has little to no boundries. In almost every great story there is a specific character or a group of characters that help the protagonist because they feel bad for them. Compassion is the most important aspect of a functioning society; therefore, Elie Wiesel’s Night, 12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose, and the generosity of spirit shown by the average citizen after the recent shooting in Las Vegas are all perfect examples.

Talbot beings her essay with a relatable spokesperson by the name of Alex, who is a graduate from Harvard and establishing an informal and personal tone to her article. By creating a personal tone to begin her article she draws the reader’s attention by giving them someone to relate to was well as what Alex is going through. She gives the readers experiences

A man can give money to the homeless on the same day as …... . Barbara Lazear Ascher wrote a piece called “On Compassion” stating that through people's own experiences, they learn compassion with the trouble right next to us. An argument that has merit, but only to a certain extent. Experiences of the individual will have them learn compassion on their own, but having the unfortunate in our faces will not guarantee a person to learn compassion. In fact, it may do the opposite and create hostility as all of us are imperfect.

Megan Ferrell, compassion is a moral emotion and desire to alleviate suffering of other people. The heart of compassion is an emotion that we feel for the suffering that other people have (Zylla, 2017). Our first thought of compassion is to look at the situation with careful observation, reflection, and assessment (Zylla, 2017). However, it is not enough to observe. reflect, or assess the situation, but our compassion causes us to share the suffering of others (Zylla, 2017). When you decide to pick up the suffering of others you are entering the very heart of compassion (Zylla, 2017). Compassion is quite different from pity or sympathy but is the desire to relieve the suffering of the other person (Zylla, 2017).

“Why are we going to ride the train mom?” Carl inquired, “Because, this train will take you and me to where we belong” The train sluggishly pulled up to the station and they quickly boarded, and took their seats at the back of the train coach. Only when they had taken their seats did she come to the striking and sudden realization that she was now a homeless, and single mother, with a pitiful amount of money. How could I be foolish enough to believe I could do this? She thought about turning back, but she knew this was the best thing for her and Carl. The coach gradually filled, and the train doors closed. As the train slowly pulled away from the station and started to gather speed they sighed from exhaustion, and settled down for the long journey

Being a hopeless romantic and consistently looking at life as if it is a poem ready to be written, my expectations for my act of kindness were at a high peak. I’ve often had a fascination with the homeless, and at times, even a sort of envy towards them. To be able to float freely, unbound by society’s confinements. When deciding I wanted to sit down, eat, and talk with a homeless person, I looked forward to the mounds of understanding I hoped to gain. But upon