Seeking Compassion

“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other—not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learned how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.” ~ Nelson Mandela

We are all shaped by our experiences and influences throughout life. From the time we are children, our biases, opinions, and prejudices begin to develop. We learn about our world through interactions with those closest to us. We follow traditions based on the cultures, heritage, and religion of our families and friends. As we continue to grow and explore beyond this initial foundation, our natural curiosities begin to take over and we start to question those lessons from childhood as our sphere of influence increases.

Sometimes those voices from our past and lessons from long ago are pushed aside to create room for a greater understanding of the world around us. This natural curiosity brings about another inevitable realization with our world and that is the feeling of disappointment. As a child, we are filled with optimism, innocence, and resilience. We grow up learning to share our toys, to talk through our misunderstandings, and to seek forgiveness when you selfishly hurt a friend’s feelings. These little lessons throughout childhood reinforce the notion that life is fair. However, once we reach adulthood, these lessons seem to betray all that we encounter.

We slowly start to lose our wide-eyed, Pollyanna outlook on life as realizations of inequality and injustice begin to challenge our beliefs. Hurt feelings turn into resentment and our once open hearts slowly turn to stone. As humans, we instinctively take actions to protect ourselves against vulnerability, pain, and suffering. It is easier to recoil and react out of hate and fear then it is to reach for understanding.

We continue to be bombarded with divisive speech, name calling, and tantrums. We are reprimanded for these behaviors as children. However, in the middle of it all, we have pushed aside the greatest trait we share as humans—compassion. The ability to see someone else’s suffering and reach out a hand instead of passing out judgment. It is this trait that invokes the feeling of sadness over violence against other human beings. It is this trait that seeks to offer a homeless person a warm meal. It is this trait that reaches to set aside our own fear in order to understand the views of another.

What we need is a little more compassion. The willingness to set aside our personal fears and ignorance to better understand the pain, hurt, dreams, and hopes of others. We need to remember those simple childhood lessons we learned making friends on the playground when conquering the imaginary dragon was possible because we saw past our differences and instead embraced our strengths.

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