Thursday Thought: Where is our compassion, our understanding?

Quite a few articles have been posted here on LI recently on compassion, which is different for each of us. But each post stressed what is possible, how we can help, and why we should. 

Recently I saw this picture, which has been on the Internet for a while now, in a post that was totally negative. The kid was seen in a negative way for not having known how or when to tie his tie. I couldn't believe it. 

Knowing that I have been accused of being naive, of being "Little Mary Sunshine" at times, I was hesitant to weigh in. But. I did. I had to. 

And I'm doing it again right here with a long post, not just a comment.

For the life of me, I cannot find a single negative thing in that picture! Someone in the original post thought the kid should have done a "dry run" to see if all the pieces fit, like the tie. That maybe no one should hire the kid because he hadn't tied his tie before getting on the train.

First of all, how would we even know that? If a kid shows up with a tie properly tied, are we supposed to wonder WHEN he tied it? Or WHO tied it? Really? And how or why would that matter?

Second, who knows how much money he has, or how hard it was to take time away from his life to be on that train then? I mean, how would we know?

Third, and here's my real point: it's a picture. We can't know if it was real or staged. But if it was real -- and I sure hope it is/was -- we still wouldn't know any of the story behind it. 

We wouldn't know if this kid is going on his first interview, way out of his comfort zone, with few if any resources available to him. 

We wouldn't know if someone at another interview mentioned he should have worn a tie. 

We wouldn't know if he has parents who could help, or not. 

We wouldn't know if his friends might laugh at a tie -- or not. 

We wouldn't know if he actually sees any adult in a suit and tie where he lives. And if he does, would he be embarrassed to ask those men for help? 

We wouldn't know.

We wouldn't know what it took for him to dress up in a really nice, white shirt, get a tie, and get on that train, for maybe the first interview of his life. He looks to be a teenager, basically still a kid. What did it take for him to just do those few things? How much courage might he have used to do what many of us would consider to be simple?

We just wouldn't know. How dare we judge?

This picture shows love and compassion to me. An older gentleman, perhaps remembering HIS first time trying to tie a tie, sees a young man in some distress. The tie needs tying. So he helps. Such a simple gesture, but so important for that kid. 

How is that wrong?

We have all been young. We have all needed some help sometime, somewhere.

If we were lucky, we had resources available to us.

If we were lucky, those resources smoothed the way for us. 

If we were lucky, we weren't left to fend for ourselves, with others judging us harshly for what we couldn't help. 

How is helping a kid who may be out of his depth, but obviously trying, wrong?

How is helping that kid NOT the nicest thing ever? How is showing love and compassion not the best thing? 

I welcome your thoughts on this.