Boundless

I was scrolling through one of my social media feeds last week and I came across a video.? I'm not certain how recent the video was made but according to the person who recorded the video, the vehicle just ahead of her in traffic was a Black Maria conveying prisoners/detainees probably from the court house back to their correctional facility. As I saw in the video, the fully loaded van was attracting hawkers on the road and a few passers-by. However, the hawkers were not attempting to sell their wares to the prisoners, they were actually handing food items to the occupants of the van.

I cannot remember how many times I watched the short video but I remember playing it over and over again. I must have watched that video more than 10 times. As I watched, something struck me - a particular man took the mission personally. He offered to gather money, food and other items from passersby and drivers who wanted to give but didn't or couldn't approach the Black Maria. He would collect items from motorists and pedestrians, run to the van and hand it in for the prisoners. He collected cash, food items and water, ran over to the prisoners, and passed the items through the perforations on the body of the van. And because the vehicle was caught up in slow moving traffic, he was able to go back and forth a number of times and did not even appear tired. He just kept at it till the traffic cleared up and the van was able to leave the area.

If you live in the western world, you may not fully appreciate the actions of this man I saw in the video but for people who know the story of prisons in Nigeria, they would understand the significance of that man's actions. The stories I've seen online from inmates and even from correctional officers tell a tale of utter neglect and disregard from the authorities.?

As of February 12 2018, 69% of the prison's population were inmates awaiting trial - according to data from the Nigeria Prisons Service; and many of these detainees had spent several years waiting to be tried. This means that less than half of the prisoners we have behind bars have actually been sentenced to be there. The other portion are people that may not even supposed to be there.?

Apart from the real possibility of keeping people in prison that are not supposed to be there, the living conditions therein are not even fit for a haman. In October 2021 the Senate Committee on Interior increased the daily ration to 1000 naira (less than a dollar in today's economy) and despite the increase, "nothing has changed with regards to the feeding of inmates across the country...in terms of quality and quantity of food the inmates eat. It is still the regular miserable ??bà with watery egusi soup, beans and rice." according to a senior prison officer.

But that is not the focus today. I do not intend to write about the deplorable state of the prisons in Nigeria, the focus of the video for me was the unalloyed humanity that I saw on display. The display of selfless service to total strangers. People who ordinarily, should not be cared for or be bothered about. People who are supposed to be "reaping the rewards of their actions." If that man could go above and beyond for people he had never met, and may never ever meet again, how much more compassionate would he be to people he knows and has close connections with? That man did not ask the inmates what part of the country they are from, or what deity they serve before he started to pass relief materials to them. He just wanted to help because he is a human who saw another human in a less than ideal condition. And that is a huge benefit of compassion - the ability it has to bridge differences and unite communities.

One striking thing about showing empathy is that most times when we share a bit of ourselves, it is not because we have excess or that we are tired of what we are giving out. Compassion is just a fundamental aspect of human nature. It is the ability to feel and understand the pain and suffering of others. Not only to feel it, but be willing (even if not able) to take action to ameliorate the situation. For those detainees, not only would they have felt a connection to the outside world, they would have felt like humans again. Even if it was for a moment.

Caring for others does not only benefit those being cared for, practicing compassion, according to research (and personal experience), releases endorphins (the ones we call "feel-good" hormones) from the brain and these chemicals stimulate general feelings of happiness, reduce anxiety and help to promote overall mental health. Essentially, compassion benefits the giver as well as it benefits the receiver.

However, as easy as it is to think that people will readily want to be nice to other people, exhibiting any act of kindness in this fast-paced, modern world can be really challenging. It is so rare nowadays that whenever we see it on display, the first instinct is to question the sincerity of its purpose. The society today has enshrined hostility into the subconscious of all of us so much that sometimes, it looks out of place when we even contemplate helping other people when we see them in need.?

Fortunately, compassion is very contagious. For those who believe strongly in it, the only way to propagate it is to continue to show it. By exhibiting it in our daily living, stronger connections will be built that will make people around us want to show some little kindness to other people because they will start to feel incomplete without it. As a Buddhist monk, Dalai Lama said long ago, "love and compassion are not luxuries but necessities. Without them, it is impossible for humanity to survive."