A Few Thoughts on Compassion

A few thoughts on Compassion.

Compassion is tossed about in political discourse almost always as emotional coercion, but seldom is the concept of compassion actually examined or considered.

To have compassion one must be able to see themselves in the same place and state as the other. Some call this empathy, though I don't think we need to take it quite that far. At the least one must recognize the one suffering as equal and same.

When one sees suffering but cannot see the other as equal and same the emotion is pity, not compassion. There is no connection between the two entities. Pity has a bad name in our culture, but pity is not to be looked down upon too much for it still shows some hint of recognizing the pain of others.

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