The Compassion Gap, By Nicholas Kristof And Arthur C. Brooks

The Americans have been stereotyped as being selfish, materialistic and greedy people who only care being at the top even if the process may affect others and bring them

Ascher’s “On Compassion” offer readers a brief encounter with New York City’s citizens as they confront the less fortunate members of society- the homeless. She describes a young mother walking down the street with her baby in a stroller who becomes agitated upon seeing a homeless man walking

Where we are is the grand culmination of hundreds of years of cooperating as a species to make for a grander environment that appeals to “all.” Despite our constant effort to improve the quality of life on earth, however, an increasingly tremendous problem pertaining the same subject has been growing “right below our noses”: homelessness. We, the common people, typically place those in such plight into great disregard; push them not off the streets but to the far back of our heads. In the article “On Compassion”, former NEW YORK TIMES columnist, Barbara Ascher, teaches us the ignorance of our denial and the importance of the helpless’ presence, and she does this through the heavy use of contrast, figurative language, a good quantity of rhetorical questions, and some very clever wording. She suggested that the presence of the homeless helps teach us compassion. Afterall, “compassion is not a character trait like a sunny disposition. It must be learned.”

Go to Chicago, New York, Paris or Madrid, on every street corner you see a person less advantaged, poor, and desperate. Then go in a store, see others carrying expensive bags, swiping their credit card left and right. We live in a world of extreme poverty, balance seems nonexistent. Poverty can result in broken homes and in turn, broken lives. In the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, Walter Mcmillian’s adult life, Trina Garnett’s childhood and Antonio Nuñez’s domestic life show that poverty was the cause of their incarceration and determined the success of their lives.

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.

Astonishingly, 564,708 people are currently homeless in the United States, according to Social Solutions (Social Solutions, 2016). The topic, “Living Poor,” has only become much more apparent in the news and in everyday life. Two essays, On Compassion by Barbara Lazear Ascher and On Dumpster Diving by Lars Eighner, can be evaluated as discussing two different aspects of the homeless situation in America. After close reading, On Compassion more effectively achieves its purpose of defining compassion than On Dumpster Diving, which describes the wasteful nature of mankind.

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

When considering poverty, most would focus on monetary values and claim that a way to fix poverty is to generate more money. Sarah Burd-Sharps and Kristen Lewis, co-directors of Measure of America, strive to get people talking about other factors of poverty rather than just income. If Burd-Sharps and Lewis are right that opportunity inequality is a big problem, as I think they are, then we need to reassess the popular assumption that money is the cause of poverty. . Inequalities in health, environment, education, and wealth are creating disadvantages for younger generations that can limit success.

We all heard countless solutions on how to solve world poverty. In Peter Singer’s article “Rich and Poor”, he discusses how he thinks this problem can be fixed. Singer claims that we all have a responsibility to support people who are in extreme need and are suffering from absolute poverty. Singer believes that poverty could be fixed if people give up their luxuries and give the money that they spent on unnecessary things to those who are destitute. In Singer 's mind, we all have a duty to give until we are no longer able to, or until the problem with the world poverty will be solved. Singer feels that it is necessary for people who are more wealthy to help those who are less fortunate by donating money right away to organizations that help fight poverty. In his opinion, by not helping those in need we are negatively responsible for their suffering and thus failing to live a moral life.

Healthcare providers are at increased risk for compassion fatigue (CF), which has also been called secondary traumatic stress, second hand shock syndrome, secondary stress reaction, and vicarious trauma (ABA, 2011). Compassion fatigue begins to become an issue when caregivers give too much of themselves to others and neglect to provide for their own needs. Neglecting one’s personal needs can be harmful, leading to destructive behaviors and patterns, such as over indulgence and increased sick calls. Over time the provider has a decreased ability to show compassion. This paper will discuss and describe compassion fatigue, warning signs of compassion fatigue, and discuss recovery options for those suffering from compassion fatigue.

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.

Jo Goodwin Parker believes poverty is a horrible thing and a difficult situation to escape in What Is Poverty, but she managed to provide for her family the best she could in order to survive. She recalls about her tragic situation and her meager salary of $22 a week for her three children. Being a single mother only made things more challenging. On the other hand, Stephen Moore and Peter Ferrara believe poverty is a choice, and the reason why people live in poverty is because they did not take enough risks or did not work hard enough in The Poverty of Equality. They believe it not to be fair for everyone to be equal due to the people with more money having worked harder and taken more risks. They state, “It is not fair to the strong to punish them by holding them down with excess weights” (Moore, Ferrara 2). They believe that if

Based on Robert McNamara’s description, absolute poverty is the severe deprivation of humans’ basic necessities of life, and is currently one of the leading causes of human misery (Singer, 2010, p.127-128). As citizens of developed nations, Singer believes we

Vollmann's self-definitions include his pondering over how much education a beggar needs. If this beggar does not want to become literate but is happy, who is he [Vollmann] to judge on whether the beggar is poor or not, This leads him to the realization that we should respect others self-awareness and self-judgments; Vollmann consecutively makes this point. Who is he [Vollmann] to judge someone's sense of poverty. Being a Sacramento native, Vollmann constantly sees homelessness and poverty, he discusses the phenomenon of everyday American citizens ignoring the unperceivable poverty-stricken individual sleeping on the sidewalk.

The problem of poverty has always plagued the world, including developed countries, such as America. It is one of the main reasons that less developed countries have difficulty developing at the pace of other countries. Many different actions can cause poverty. Most people have different opinions on why poverty still exists. “Nearly equal portions of the public in advanced, emerging, and developing countries, cite the gap between the rich and the poor as a very big problem. And notably, it is the leading economic concern in the eyes of people in major economies such as China and Germany, at 42 and 39 percent, respectively, according to the new Pew Research survey. A global median of 29 percent say their government’s actions are to blame for inequality, making it the leading cause cited. People in advanced economies, in particular, believe that their governments are responsible for the rich getting richer and equally culpable for the poor becoming relatively poorer. A median of 32 percent in those nations blame government, three times the percentage that cite the failings of their educational system and double the share who blame their tax system” (Stokes). Some people that are wealthy are also greedy. Although they control a large amount of wealth, they are unwilling to share it. Although it should not be the responsibility of wealthy people to support people in poverty, it would be helpful to the advancement of society. Another contributing reason that poverty exists is