The Significance of Compassion in the Modern World

In the dictionary compassion is defined as the sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it. Compassion is important because without it the world would be a completely different place, there would be no feelings or desire to help the less fortunate, the suffering of people would be unimportant to others, and those going through hardships, poverty, and pain would not get the help they need. The world would basically be an unloving place. Thankfully, by God’s grace there is compassion in this world and I have been fortunate enough to receive it a few times in my life, without it I think I would be an entirely different person than I am today.

When I was a child in elementary school I was going through a lot of hurt and pain with my parents divorcing and was having a hard time adjusting in school because I was very shy and quiet and didn’t have any friends.

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Many of the children in my grade picked on me, called me names, and made me feel bad about myself. I would go to school every day feeling sad because the children in my grade would always choose me last to play kick ball on their team and said it was because they didn’t want losers on their team. It made me feel very bad and made me have a bad self esteem. Growing up this way I got a distinct feeling that maybe all people were like this and that being treated badly by others was the norm.

Then one day at school when I was getting ready to go to class these two girls from my class stopped me as I was walking and asked me if I had any money for lunch, I told them that I did, and they asked me if they could have it. I told them that they couldn’t because I needed it for lunch and that my mom would get mad at me if I gave my money to someone else. The two girls got mad and then took away my backpack and started tossing it up in the air over me as if it were a game of monkey in the middle while I kept trying to catch it. They then said “When you give us your money, we’ll give you back your backpack.” I pleaded with them saying that I needed my backpack because my homework was in there. I began to cry and realized that I might have to give them my money or I might not get my backpack back. Then out of nowhere I saw a teacher come up towards me and she told the girls to stop or she was going to call their parents. The girls got scared and told her that they were just playing with me, the teacher than told them that she saw the whole thing and that if they didn’t leave me alone from now on that she was going to go to the principal to make sure they were punished. The other girls realized she was serious and gave me back my back pack and apologized as they left. She asked me if I was okay and I said yes, she was very nice and offered to walk me to class to make sure I got there okay. She introduced herself to me and then she told me something I will never forget. She said “Don’t listen to what they say to you, you are not a loser. You are very special and one day you will grow up to be a good person that will be able to help others that are going through hard times like yourself.”

Since that day I have not forgotten her kind words and actions, and I truly believe that if it wasn’t for her I’d be a completely different person than I am now. She taught me that neither I nor anyone else deserves to be treated like that; she made me open my eyes from that day on and made me realize that I am worth something. The compassion that she gave to me to stop those children from bullying me and giving me her kind words will always be something I will cherish. That event in my life has made a difference in me, I want to help others just as she helped me. I feel that everything that happens to a person in their life is for a reason and I feel that God has called me to be a social worker to help those who don’t have a voice. I want to make a difference in someone’s life even if it is just one person, just as that teacher