Compassion Leads to Charity
What is the true meaning of compassion? It is simply understanding the situation of someone else and having the desire to help. Then, how people learn the meaning of compassion? According to the author Barbara Lazear Ascher, people are born without knowing the meaning of compassion, so it is something people learn with experiences in daily life. In her essay "On Compassion" Ascher shows the situation of two women who made her think about the real reason why a person decides to help, besides compassion. Certainly, in both situations the two women made a charitable act, but they were compelled to act by different reasons, the mother was forced to act by fear, while the cafe owner was motivated to act by compassion.
The mother, who was in the corner with the baby in the stroller waiting for the light to change, hands out a dollar to a man by fear. The man appears to be a homeless person because his untidy clothes, so when he gets close to the woman, by instinctive reaction the woman clenched the stroller's handle. Also, the way the man is staring at the baby creates insecurity for the woman, and she begins to worry about her baby's security, finally she seeks money in her bag and tries to give it …show more content…
The man using a dirty blanket as sweater, enters to the café to receive the coffee and food, and the owner does not care about the man's smell of "cigarettes and urine", (36) which are spread through the shop, and kindness was demonstrated when the café owner personally delivers the coffee and food to the man, also Ascher describes the food as expensive, and the café owner did not have any problem about losing money by giving free food and coffee to the man even when he visits the shop frequently. Compassion about the man situation was the reason the owner decides to act without any
What is the true meaning of compassion? It is simply understanding the situation of someone else and having the desire to help. Then, how people learn the meaning of compassion? According to the author Barbara Lazear Ascher, people are born without knowing the meaning of compassion, so it is something people learn with experiences in daily life. In her essay "On Compassion" Ascher shows the situation of two women who made her think about the real reason why a person decides to help, besides compassion. Certainly, in both situations the two women made a charitable act, but they were compelled to act by different reasons, the mother was forced to act by fear, while the cafe owner was motivated to act by compassion.
The mother, who was in the corner with the baby in the stroller waiting for the light to change, hands out a dollar to a man by fear. The man appears to be a homeless person because his untidy clothes, so when he gets close to the woman, by instinctive reaction the woman clenched the stroller's handle. Also, the way the man is staring at the baby creates insecurity for the woman, and she begins to worry about her baby's security, finally she seeks money in her bag and tries to give it …show more content…
The man using a dirty blanket as sweater, enters to the café to receive the coffee and food, and the owner does not care about the man's smell of "cigarettes and urine", (36) which are spread through the shop, and kindness was demonstrated when the café owner personally delivers the coffee and food to the man, also Ascher describes the food as expensive, and the café owner did not have any problem about losing money by giving free food and coffee to the man even when he visits the shop frequently. Compassion about the man situation was the reason the owner decides to act without any