Compassion is a feeling one experiences when confronted with the suffering of someone else; it results in the motivation to release a certain person from the anguish. The world is full of torments for the homeless, and facing the reality, where people without a permanent home live, can teach others to be compassionate, to be better, and to help the ones in need. It is an individual choice for every man to learn how to be compassionate instead of living in fear because no one is born this way.
Being compassionate and offering support to people who suffer from a difficult financial situation are decisions which a person conscientiously makes when seeing their unfortunate state. In “On Compassion”, Ascher (2017) illustrates scenes of treatment that the homeless receive in New York City by questioning whether the act of compassion is motivated by fear or empathy. The author tells of the time when she saw a woman “bearing the dollar like a cross” before a homeless man, growing impatient when he does not take it at once (Ascher, 2017, para. 5). The meaning the author puts into the situation, giving a negative connotation to the description of the helpless, is how people appearing to be compassionate may have fear which causes them to do such actions.
There is a difference between empathy, the ability to perceive the feelings of others, and compassion, the motivated will to help those who give rise to the empathetic state. In the article, Ascher (2017) states that empathy is the mother of compassion and that if the adversity in the society becomes familiar, people begin to empathize with it. By this statement, the author shows that in order to be compassionate, one needs to understand how others feel.
Not only fear or empathy directed towards the homeless can be mistaken for compassion, but also the feeling of pity. The author presents an example when a woman who works in a shop feeds a homeless man who leaves it after receiving the food (Ascher, 2017). Ascher (2017) wonders if the worker acts that way in order to rid the place of the presence of this person wrapped up in a stained blanket with a bad scent or due to pity. This event defines how society cannot ignore the presence of the homeless, though offering help to them can be motivated by different emotions.
On the way home from work, on the subway, in the streets, and even by the churches, the presence of the helpless is evident. In the household, I have been taught to be compassionate for the whole life. From the perspective of the valuables of the family, I realize that helping those in need is out of the question. Almost daily I meet homeless people by the entrance to the subway, giving money to them. Such experiences make me understand that misfortune can happen to anyone, that society must be compassionate towards the helpless and protect them in order to make their life less sorrowful.
The main point that Ascher presents in “On Compassion” is that no one is born compassionate, and we must learn how to act in that way through the realization of diversity in society. To stop feeling fear or pity, a man must erase all prejudices and perceive what those in need of help feel, to be empathetic towards them. Everyone has the trait to act compassionately, yet not all are able to use it. The more one sees the suffering of the helpless, the more evident the adversity becomes, and it can teach others to be more compassionate in action.
Reference
Ascher, H. L. (2017). On compassion. King Philip Regional High School. Web.