In Barbara Lazear Ascher's essay, On Compassion, Asher provides many anecdotes and analyzation of compassion. Ascher declares that “ I don’t believe that one is born compassionate.”(par. 13) and that it “It must be learned, and it is learned by having adversity at our windows,”(par.13). Asher's statement stating that one is not born compassionate is untrue. We are born are compassionate, but circumstance decides who we are compassionate to. When you look at a baby, you initially think he is only observing his surroundings. Therefore, it seems impossible for him to register emotions such as sadness or love and much less compassion. However, research suggests that “compassion and benevolence are an evolved part of human nature, rooted in our
