Are you a compassionate person?

Are you a compassionate person? How would you react if someone told you that you are not?

What really is compassion?

Wikipedia says that is the virtue of empathy for the suffering of others. It is regarded as a fundamental part of human love, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism —foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood.

Compassion is often regarded as emotional in nature, and there is an aspect of compassion which regards a quantitative dimension, such that individual's compassion is often given a property of "depth," "vigour," or "passion." The etymology of "compassion" is Latin, meaning "co-suffering." More virtuous than simple empathy, compassion commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering. It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the social context as altruism. In ethical terms, the various expressions down the ages of the so-called Golden Rule embody by implication the principle of compassion: Do to others what you would have them do to you.

Compassion personified: a statue
at the Epcot center in Florida (Wikipedia)

Just how would you connect the virtue of empathy in your workplace? Oftentimes, other people live up to the belief that they uphold that virtue and much more they practice as such in their community, workplace and within their own family. You cannot tell yourself that you are a compassionate person unless others will tell you that you are one, unless others show the fruits of your deeds towards others. Empathizing for the suffering of others is regarded as emotional in nature and there should be action done for doing so, not only by words but by deeds. It is ironic to see others that they practice and live up with that virtue but in reality they are unjust and oppressing others without them knowing it.

Can you tell that your employer is compassionate wherein they add up more burden, suffering and injustice to their employees? Aren't they aware that their employees are already oppressed and suffering and being deprive of their right for a better life? How would you react if your employer will no longer allow you to have a cash advance for the continuance of your kids' education? Are they happy to know that their employees can no longer afford for a better education of their children? Where is the virtue of compassion there? These are just a few questions that I see in reality and nobody can deny it because the people already spoke up of being oppressed and deprived of their chance to continue living their lives to the fullest. Is this a Christian act wherein to show empathy is to forsake their own desires and to act compassionately towards others, particularly those in need or distress?

"... If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort..." - 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

"Compassion is the ultimate and most meaningful embodiment of emotional maturity. It is through compassion that a person achieves the highest peak and deepest reach in his or her search for self-fulfillment. --Arthur Jersild

"Compassion is not sentiment but is making justice and doing works of mercy. Compassion is not a moral commandment but a flow and overflow of the fullest human and divine energies." --Matthew Fox