What is compassion? Webster’s Dictionary defines it as a “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” I think that compassion has a much more powerful meaning than this. I believe that compassion is true embodiment of the human heart and spirit and its urge to help people. I also believe that this embodiment drives us to unite as one, setting aside our differences, be it in religion, politics, or other worldly conflicts, to master our divine purpose, the betterment of humanity and nature. The three Abrahamic faiths, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, among other religions, exemplify the qualities of compassion and love clearly reflecting these ideas in their scriptures and teachings. In fact, if …show more content…
In the Jewish tradition, God is the compassionate and is often invoked as the ‘Father of Compassion’. Hence ‘Rehmana’ or compassionate becomes the usual designation of His revealed word. The Rabbis speak of the thirteen attributes of compassion and invokes the feeling of a mother for her offspring. The feeling of compassion was supposed to have been rooted in the heart of the righteous in ancient Israel. Compassion, empathy, altruism, kindness and love are frequently used interchangeably. An in-depth study will make it clear that compassion is more than a simple human emotion. Kabbalah, the Jewish mythical tradition is clear about this. A leading Rabbi of the Talmud(Hillel) stated,
“Kindness gives to another. Compassion knows no other.”
Expanding the idea further, Michael Laitman said, ‘if we thoroughly examine Nature’s elements, we will see that altruism Is the basis of life.’ Though altruism is the word used, the concept seems consistent with compassion. On being asked about Jewish religion in a nut-shell, Rabbi Hillel stated, ‘That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah. The rest is explanation; go and learn.” Post 9/11 the words of Rabbi Hillel are being more frequently quoted by speakers of
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.”
The purpose of this essay is to question the readers. Ascher wants the audience to analyze themselves to determine the reason behind why people show kindness, whether it is out of fear, pity, or compassion.
“A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal”. This quote by Steve Maraboli may be hard to understand, but the Holocaust texts: Night by Elie Wiesel, “A Three Year Old Saves His Mother” by Peter Gorog and “Jakob's Story” by Jakob Blankitny are great examples of where compassion is necessary to fight the despair in heartbreaking situations. In each work, compassion shows up from unexpected sources, helps motivate people to survive, and creates greater unification.
Compassion is one of the fundamental characteristics implemented into patient care by health care providers. Compassion signifies “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering” (Compassion, n.d.). Nurses and other health care providers provide selfless service, tireless dedication, compassion, and often neglect their personal needs, which
Compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering (Dictionary.com). In the Annex you can see that many people are very compassionate towards each other. One example of this is when Peter’s cat gets lost and cannot be found. You’d expect for him to get told to suck it up and that it’s just a cat, and they’ve more important things to worry about. Instead of this you see that they try to find his cat and calm him down, which I think is very compassionate of them to think of Peter and how much he loves his cat instead of telling him to suck it up.
The definition of compassion in the oxford dictionary is ''sympathetic pity and concern for the suffering or misfortunes of others''. Oxford dictionary (2013) However senior lecturer Penny Harrison says there is no accurate definition for compassion as it is a word that can be understood in different ways. Harrison, P. (2009)
Within literature, Compassion has been described in many ways though very few descriptions have agreed on how it is best identified (Volpintesta 2011). Crowther et al (2013) describe compassion as a deep emotion that is felt by the individual practitioner allowing them to understand what the patient may be experiencing. Nussbaum (2003) argues that compassion goes beyond just understanding and identifying that emotion, it requires the practitioner to produce a response to the feeling or emotion in order to improve the situation. Dewar (2011) points out that compassion is not only about the recognition of the patients suffering but includes small
Compassion impels us to work to alleviate the suffering of our fellow man, to remove ourselves from the center of our world and put another there, and to honor the sanctity of every single person treating everybody, without exception, with justice, equity and respect.
Dalai Lama once said “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” But how does one learn how to love or feel compassion for others? People all around the world wonder why the feel compassion for others. Most people feel compassion because it helps them understand how others are feeling so they can respond appropriately to a certain situation. Barbara Lazear Ascher, a former attorney and a current author, focused on compassion and how it is developed by people. Ascher’s purpose is to show that compassion is not something that you are born with, it is something that you have to learn and practice throughout your lifetime. A way to practice compassion is when you see homeless. Ascher’s reaches her
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.
To me compassion means to care and love one another. If you hate or dislike someone, that is not showing compassion. Compassion also means to understand if they are upset, for example if your friend has a breakup. I would want to help them get through the breakup and make them happy again.To love someone is a huge part of compassion. Love can make someone feel super special and have compassion. One other definition of compassion is to forgive someone. if you forgive someone they will be happy with you. Being happy is great and it shows compassion.
Compassion means empathy to me, which is being in another person’s shoes. The reason why a person shows compassion is because they feel for another person. I think compassion also means to do the right thing. That is because compassion is to be sincere and that is a good thing. Showing compassion must give you the warm feeling in your heart, which is good. Compassion should be a human right that all humans should use. It is an important part of humanity and it is the virtuous thing. So let me tell you how compassion is related to the Holocaust and how it is important.
Compassion, what is it? Is it a human right? What does it mean to you? That is only a few of the things we will be discuss . First before we discuss we will talk about a man who survived the Holocaust. Now you are probably like “how does the Holocaust have anything to do with compassion.” A Lot which you will find out soon. But the man im talking about is Elie Wiesel he survived the Holocaust and lost his family during it. He wrote a book about the horror and the death. Well let's answer some of the question.
Compassion represents an “acknowledgement of another’s suffering and is accompanied by the expression of a desire to ease or end that suffering.” (Van der Cingal, 2009, p. 124) This is a fundamental characteristic usually found in health care workers and nurses especially. In one twelve hour shift, a nurse’s job can change from taking vitals and administering medications to performing life saving measures