The power of compassion

The atmosphere at the sprawling convent school was electric. It was the reopening day after a long summer vacation, and all the students, thrilled at meeting friends again, stood in groups and chattered excitedly.

One little girl, though, stands alone amid the din. Nervous, shy and diffident, she looks with searching eyes for someone approachable to speak to. To her chagrin, her attempts at socialising are met with cold, unfriendly looks. Stung, she settles in the class, alone and dejected.

However, soon, the class teacher walks and notices the new girl who seems anxious. She introduces her to the class and engages her in kindly banter that soon makes the child feel welcome. In no time, the coldness in the hearts of her classmates melt from the warmth that radiates from the teacher. Their hostility turns into a welcoming disposition. The new student sheds her inhibitions to accept the hand of friendship now outstretched by everyone in the class, as she begins to relax, participate and enjoy her classes. The child sprints home at the end of the day to cherish the kindness of her teacher forever.

This wonderful experience is etched in my mind as if it happened yesterday. When so many other details of my childhood have faded from my memory, what it is about this one that has made an indelible impression in my mind, I often wondered. And after all these years, I think I have found the answer: it was the compassion displayed by the teacher in reaching out to a terrified little girl and feeding her courage and self-confidence in an unfriendly environment. This early experience has come back to me time and again to remind me of the quiet power of compassion in infusing joy into our world.

What compassion can do

It is said that compassion is the most healing of all human emotions. It encompasses all the attributes that make human beings humane. If we let compassion take over, it can transform the world, aver philosophers. This conviction probably stems from the very nature of compassion - it has the power to transpose both the beneficiary and the benefactor to a higher plank in life. In the aforementioned incident, compassion brought confidence to an insecure child and contentment to a teacher through the good work she displayed. No wonder it is often advised, “If you want others to be happy, practise compassion. If you want to be happy, again, practise compassion.”

In fact, going back in time to the dark periods in the annals of history, where the brutality of evil-mongers cast a gloomy shadow over humanity, we find that it was the compassion that flowed from the incredible goodness of men and women that helped the world face and fight such cruelty. Every human atrocity - from the holocaust to the many devastating wars and from dictatorship regimes to colonial rule that ravaged nations and left countries in shambles - was assuaged by the individual and collective compassion of people.

From Florence Nightingale to Saint Teresa and from Mahatma Gandhi to Nelson Mandela, it was the power of compassion that brought solace to the suffering and the oppressed, making these ordinary men and women immortal heroes. Without this force, we would have no foundations for the poor, no organisations to care for the destitute, no orphanages, no old-age homes, no soup kitchens, no free dispensaries, no Red Cross or charitable trusts. This word, meaning ‘to suffer with’, thus encompasses everything, as thinkers put it, to make the world a better place.

Compassion in action

Given the power this human sentiment can generate, imbibing and practising compassion is a pressing necessity in our effort to shape a better world. The key to developing compassion is to understand its source, which is the empathy. When one can project his or her own consciousness into another being, he or she is going beyond merely feeling sympathy and adopting the more difficult empathy. It has been beautifully said, “Sympathy sees and says, ‘I’m sorry.’ Compassion sees and says, ‘I’ll help.’” When we learn the difference, we will have learnt compassion.

Another positive source of compassion is courage. For, to be compassionate also means to be courageous, to be able to see a need and have the valour to reach out to meet it. Going that extra mile, moving away from one’s comfort zone and risking one’s safety when it is usually safer and easier to not get involved - demands courage.

Finally, compassion cannot be a once-in- a-while feeling. It behoves us to open our feelings for another and to offer help, not only when it is convenient, rather, as and when there is a need. “When someone is drowning, you don’t ask if they can swim, you jump in and help them,” said Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker, Nobel Peace nominee and winner of several awards for her compassionate heroism in rescuing 2,500 children from the Nazi death camps during the Holocaust.

Be it premeditated or spontaneous, this latent force of compassion can bring the alienating human race together. Anytime it is used, it automatically assuages the sufferings of another and gratifies the giver. The world has made use of this quiet power in the past to move away from barbarianism and brutality. The contemporary world will do well to keep the spirit alive.

Little by little, through small acts of kindness, in tiny ways, we can choose to be compassionate, and in doing so, play an angel to those in need. For when we are compassionate, we become like the angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.