Compassion

Daily writing prompt

What’s the trait you value most about yourself?

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I had a difficult time sleeping last night. I kept waking up every hour on the hour thinking that my cat was upset. You see, he was sleeping at my feet, and when he does that I worry about kicking him. I worry so much that it interferes with my sleep. I don’t know why, but I have this odd compulsive thinking that my foot is going to crush his little delicate body and I will wake up to find him a pancake. I know, it’s irrational.

Instead of pointing out a trait that I currently value in myself, I would like to discuss a trait that I want to practice more of and hone in on. That trait would be compassion.

Compassion as defined by Merriam-Webster. So, in order to be compassionate, you have to be aware of the suffering or distress of others with a wanting to fix it. You see, I have a problem with this definition of compassion. It doesn’t include any action to alleviate the suffering of others. I think compassion should include the act of helping alleviate the distress of others. Otherwise, it’s just someone sitting on the sidelines rooting for your success. Sure, cheerleaders serve their purpose but they’re certainly not the players on the field.

I don’t know if any of this is making sense. I’m running on very little sleep. The word compassion has been showing up a lot in my life lately. I feel the universe is telling me to have a deeper relationship with the word.

If I go by the definition of the word, I am a very compassionate person. But, like I said, I don’t think that that definition is sufficient enough. I think the definition of the word should be something along the lines of, “An understanding of the suffering of others with a desire and willingness to act in alleviating the suffering.” There’s more action in that definition, but still not enough in my opinion.

Someone once told me, “Actions speak louder than words.” In parallel to that, I think compassionate acts go further than empathy itself. My opinion is that in order to be compassionate, you must act compassionately. It isn’t just enough to think compassionately. You must do.

But then again, I don’t write for Merriam-Webster. Nor am I an expert on anything in particular. I have no expertise to draw from. These are all just gut feelings. But then again, my mother always said to trust my gut feelings.

One of my gut feelings, and I think a lot of people around the world feel this; that there is going to be many great challenges for society in our near future. I think compassion with action is going to be the only way we make it through these challenges. I think compassion with action is our true savior.

Maybe, the reason the word doesn’t include action because a person can still be compassionate even if they are unable to fix whatever is causing the distress. I don’t know. I just know that the current definition of the word is missing something.

What are your thoughts on compassion?