(This is the second part of a series on compassion. To read the first part, click here.)
Com-pas-sion
-noun
1. a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering
-verb (used with an object)
2. Archaic. To compassionate.
(from dictionary.com)
Ever since the last blog I wrote about compassion, I have been thinking about it.
I’ve looked up definitions, read articles, read blogs (others and my own) and the comments left on them-
In short, I have had a lot of material to consider.
One of the things I have noticed in all of this sifting and sorting is how 99% of my reading sees compassion as something reserved for moments of suffering.
Some characterize compassion in terms similar to Webster’s definition.
Others go a little bit further, and ask the reader to turn compassion into an action.
I ran into an article by a woman named Sara Turner, who has a particularly strong feeling about exactly that.
Her personal opinion is that compassion is not so much of an emotion (noun) as an action (verb), and should require a person to do more than just feel.
If people were to treat compassion as a verb rather than a noun, then she would want to be around compassionate people – but that isn’t how it is.
Speaking as someone who sits in the emotion far more often than making it an action, I don’t know if I agree that the problem is the definition alone(although I do agree there is a problem).
I do know the definition complicates the question of what to do.
If compassion is treated like something we feel rather than something we do, it is so much easier to throw our hands up in the air and do nothing.
It’s just a thing, after all.
A feeling.
What good is it going to do to indulge that feeling, especially when all that feeling does is drag you down?
Something else I agree with Sara about is that compassion takes courage.
Having a feeling is one thing, and can be a powerful motivation to do something… to make a difference.
But a feeling does nothing important if it is pushed out of the way.
Actions make a difference, but they also have a cost.
A cost that some people might not have the strength or courage to accept.
Back in the day, compassion used to be a verb… so maybe the solution is to steal it back from the nouns.
Maybe it is time to count the cost and ask for the strength to compassion someone (or something)-
To do, rather than to be.
If love is a verb, then why can’t compassion be one, too?
(P.S. – here’s the link to Sara’s article if you would like to read it! What is the meaning of compassion?)
