Compassion

The dictionary defines compassion as “deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.” It is a word that I try to live by. I have always been drawn to being a part of something that is geared towards helping others. I have never been wealthy but I do try and contribute as much as I can to charity. One of my favorite charities to contribute to is The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate which works all over the world to help the poor have a better life

 

The last couple of days have demonstrated the total lack of compassion in one of my coworkers. I work in patient accounts for our local hospital. Patients are brought back for us to help make payment arrangements if they don’t have insurance or to see if we can help do charity arrangements if they can not pay. A patient was brought back with kidney stones which are agonizingly painful. My coworker didn’t know this person but because he was out of work she voiced the opinion that “he deserves them.” This is the same person who, the day before, declared that Indians deserve to be stuck on reservations and that we do too much for them

 

Unfortunately you see this type of behavior too much in our modern world. What ever happened to compassion? Is it something that this modern world no longer feels is necessary? There is a prevailing attitude to kick them when they are down in this world

 

We need to get back to caring for one another. For too long there has been an attitude of accumulate wealth and power and it doesn’t matter who you trample on to get there. For too long people have had the attitude of “they deserve it” towards to poor because they are perceived as people who don’t try to better themselves

 

My niece was abandoned a few years ago with $15.00 and three children under the age of six. She has experienced first hand what it is like to be homeless and the misperceptions government has towards the homeless. She has done an incredible amount to change the face of poverty in North Carolina where she lives. She is currently working towards her Masters degree and she and I frequently talk on the phone regarding her thesis. I spend many nights reading papers she sends me and discussing what she writes and critiquing them for her. Together I feel we are going to show an often times callus world that the poor have faces and names and stories of their own that need to be told. We are determined to bring the government, kicking and screaming if necessary, back to the roots of compassion as the cornerstone of governing

 

The picture is called “Guardian Through the Raging Sea.”