Compassion in a Broken World

At Christmas it is almost impossible not to be confronted by the stark difference between the haves — who are busy supporting the North American economy in their purchasing of all many of goods, for themselves and for others — and the have nots — most notably those suffering from natural disasters, but also those in chronic poverty or societal dysfunction.

Compassion fatigue is, of course, also a very real phenomenon. We seem to be bombarded by stories of brokenness and need so often and so extensively that, in order to maintain our own sanity, we develop a short of blindness to all that pain and misery. It struck me that this is not unlike the way we deal with signs and advertisements, as I spoke of in my last post.

Curiously, however, I find that while stories of desperate need often pass over me without impact, I never fail to be moved by stories of compassion — stories of people reaching out and responding to the needs they see in the world.

Regrettably, I find that I am surrounded not by people telling and enacting stories of compassion so much as I am surrounded by people telling stories of need and competing with each other to tell their stories in the most graphic way, to seek the most attention. As I result, I find I am growing into a less compassionate person, rather than a more compassionate person. Just like with the signs, by trying to motivate or ask directly, instead of getting greater response, ultimately this approach gets less.

Sounds sort of like he who would save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake, will save it", doesn't it?