what does it mean?
i brought up this topic in my religion class the other day. the religion is not important, because it is the concept that is. what does it mean to be compassionate?
to be kind? helpful? these were some concepts that came up. in my dictionary this is what was presented: sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.
a story was presented of a classmate who owns property, and rents out the houses. that sometimes people skip on their rent, take off, and with them the appliances in the house. the christian in her allows this. a helping of others. they must need it more than i attitude.
is this compassion?
i presented just the opposite concept...this is not compassion, but enabling, and being taken advantage of.
compassion is a dichotomy.
being taken advantage of in the name of compassion, enabling in the name of compassion is not compassion. doing the right thing by helping someone out to better themselves is compassion. if that means, in some perceived way, being mean to them...then that is compassion. if the above is the christian concept of compassion, then it is not wonder that i want no part of that.
coming from a buddhist perspective, it is a very difficult concept. a difficult moral decision. what becomes the compassionate route? compassion is difficult. however; i am then reminded of what nietzsche said about what is worth having...it is never easy...
amitabha...
27.2.09
compassion...
10.2.09
my heart...
hangs low.
i hear the news on the radio...and it seems on a weekly basis another child dies at the hands of their parent. for no reason. none.
recently; a woman gets put away for killing her children, and claims she hears voices in her head to do it. insanity plea. she gets put away in a psyche ward.
the most recent story was a father put a pillow over his child's face, because the baby was crying...the child suffocated and died.
i ask...how? why?
these are children. babies. who have done nothing wrong. who did not ask for existence. who are now just trying to exist. to live. no one said that children are easy.
as i mourn for the children, anger fills...against those who would commit such an act.
justice? there is none. you took an innocent life. innocent in every sense of the word. for these people there should be no trial. no excuse. just take them out back and put a bullet in the back of their head. there is no reason for what they have done. and now they get to live, because of some insanity plea...they get a fighting chance...what about their children? did they get one? do they get a voice? nope. however you do...how is that possible?
i can't find any compassion for them. none.
our system is weak.
amitabha...