Example 2: God wants us to have a heart of compassion for others. Compassion involves feeling, but it involves so much more. If we only feel, then we are sympathetic. If our sympathy motivates us to act, then it becomes compassion. True compassion feels and it acts. Notice that compassion begins with feeling. Without feeling, there is no compassion. Feeling is not enough, but it is a place to begin. If we do not weep for those who are hurting, how can we minister to them? We must be about the Savior’s preoccupation with people. I believe that if we serve hurting people, encourage those in despair, help those in need, and hurt with those in pain, we will have not only enriched their lives but have done exactly what God would want us to do. People don’t go where the action is; people go where the love is. I have worked in the geriatric nursing field my entire adult life and the most important impact on the lives that I touch is my ability to be compassionate. I find that when a spouse or children
Raising money and donating to good causes are just some of the many things that I like to do to serve my community, However showing empathy , tutoring, and volunteering are my favorite ways to serve others. Even in the smallest form possible, showing compassion with a servile attitude can positively affect not only the person you’re helping but also
The example that affected me the most was when there was a homeless man walking across the street towards a mother and child. Due to instinct, the mother held the carriage closer and harder. To ensure the safety of her and her child, she gave him money. It was not that she felt compassion for him, but instead, she thought that this would keep him from harming herself and her child. It was not that the man acted in any unacceptable way, but that the woman and child were the ones at risk. The author shows compassion as more of a transaction as “the man stands and stares.” The fixed stare made her feel uneasy and nervous. It is as if time stopped. it was not a genuine act of kindness on the mother’s part or that she felt sympathetic for him. There is symbolism of protection “[when the mother] passes a folded dollar over her child’s head.” The man “does not know that acceptance of the gift and gratitude are what make this transaction complete.” It is visible that the woman only offers to help the man out of
“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.
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.
Examples of compassion run deep through the pages of this novel. It all begins with the acceptance of Leisel, the foster child. Hans and his wife Rosa, are expecting two children. To Rosa’s disappointment, not only is there only one child but a female named Lesell when she would have preferred a male. Though Rosa wants a male foster child, Hans as nice as he is devotes his life to take care of this girl with no other family. Even with struggles Hans Hubermann had putting food on his own family's plates, he took two unknown people into his life and showed them compassion through sacrifice, one was Liesel and a Jewish boy named Max. Hans couldn't afford to give his family the basic necessities, so he had to give up a lot more to care for two more people. A habit that Hans enjoyed, smoking, was something he had to give up in order to nurture Liesel's love for reading. Confirmation to his character of sacrifice was demonstrated when Hans said “Eight cigarettes per book… praise the lord for cigarettes.”(89-90). Hans was so relieved that he could take from himself and not put any extra strain or sacrifice of the family and give to Liesel. He found
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.
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
To me, compassion means to show sympathy for someone that is feeling pain; physically or emotionally. Compassion also means to show kindness to one another when in rough times. When an individual shows compassion to someone else, they comfort them, or make them feel better. It can also mean when someone sees need for one, and helps them. For example, a sign of compassion can be donating to a homeless shelter. Therefore, compassion can be expressed in many ways. Compassion is like a contagious illness. If you get it, you give it and if everyone showed compassion, everyone would receive it. Compassion is very important.
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.”
In her essay, Rachel wrote “My definition of compassion is forgiving, loving, helping, leading, and showing mercy for others. I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go
On September, 11th, 2001, tragedy struck when terrorists attacked the US. The Twin Towers in New York City crumbled to the ground with people stuck inside. Firefighters helped those stuck. People dug through rubble to help out those who were trapped in the fallen towers. EMT’s helped as many people as they could. Others drove down to help as many people as they could. Yes, a lot of people lost their lives, but tons lived. If that’s not compassion, I don't know what is.
According to the Old Testament (O.T.), the word compassion is known as “rahamayim.” The O.T.’s belief of compassion is explored through the perceptions of the compassion of God, his people, and through the metaphor of God’s compassion. As quoted from Reeves, “Being Triune, God is a sharing God, a God who loves to include indeed that is why God will go on to create (Richard of St. Victor).” In the O.T., compassion is an emotion or quality that is Godly. The triune God is the source of all love and goodness (Reeves, 2012). God is overwhelmingly the One who is always compassionate. However, God is also known to withdraw his compassion in the same fashion. This withdrawal is understood as God’s anger or wrath. People experience widespread death and detrimental destruction when his compassion is withdrawn
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.
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