Free Reflection Essay on Compassion

When I was twelve I was an avid golfer. One day on a hot summer afternoon I ended up with heat exhaustion and consequently fainted. I was ignored for twenty minutes as many adults passed by, and to my rescue came another young girl my age. Sometimes with age it seems to be that we lose parts of our human ability to empathize and be compassionate, and on that day that was the case. Some people feel as though they have “seen it all” and they move on to the next most important thing which is getting below ninety on their golf scorecard.] The point of this story is to further the idea that focusing on oneself and the inability to take the time for others robs a person of their compassion. Thesis statement: Those who take the time to focus on what is truly important while taking another person's thoughts and feelings into consideration are truly the most compassionate people of all. Selfishness is the downfall of many, but compassion can be a solution if you take the initiative to help others. 

Helping others should be easy when one is a doctor, after all, they save lives. You would think that doctors are people who have the utmost capacity to feel compassion, but unfortunately, not in this case. In a show called “The Resident”, a world-renowned surgeon is given the position to be CEO of his hospital. Doctor Randolph Bell goes from saving lives, to mercilessly taking them for the sake of money. Bell feels as though his newfound power gives him the authority to act in this manner, and loses all the compassion he once had for his patients. His entitlement to authority and selfishness when it came to greed clouded his ability to have even an ounce of sympathy. Bell used his position to create the illusion that he was a generous, charitable person, a “savior” to the people and pediatric patients of his hospital to whom he so graciously donated his time. This behavior is something that Daniel Goleman, a featured Ted Talk speaker addresses in his Ted Talk asking the question “Why are we not more compassionate of other people’s time?” Goleman states “I was doing my taxes the other day, and I got to the point where I was listing all of the donations I gave, and I had an epiphany, it was -- I came to my check to the Seva Foundation and I noticed that I thought, boy, my friend Larry Brilliant would really be happy that I gave money to Seva. Then I realized that what I was getting from giving was a narcissistic hit -- that I felt good about myself.” (3:39). Daniel Goleman’s acknowledgment of his narcissistic hit makes leaps and bounds toward the process of self-reflection and realization (unlike Dr. Bell). Goleman emphasizes the point that just because you donate your time or money to an organization does not mean you are a compassionate person. Having selfish motives completely ruins the point of the act. His new initiative to truly focus on helping others instead of focusing on the recognition he would receive for his donations is truly the purest form of compassion. Not only did he help another person in a time of need, but he also grew as a person in doing so. 

Compassion is not always about helping others. At times a person needs to feel compassion for oneself as well. In the movie “Spider-Man: No Way Home” Peter Parker (spoilers ahead) has his identity revealed, causing himself and his friends to be denied from attending their dream college. Parker goes to the greatest lengths to see to it that his friends are admitted, all the while he forgets about himself in the process. His aunt May is killed, and villains from other universes are plaguing their dimension. He worries about saving the world and sacrifices himself for it, and in all honesty, it was a disservice to his character. One thing I would have liked to see more of in the movie is Peter Parker showing himself compassion too. He takes a lot of blame for his actions, but never shows himself grace for his accomplishments. This relates to a very well-spoken Ted Talk by Krista Tippett. Tippett speaks about reconnecting with passion and states that “I think that compassion is also often linked to beauty -- and by that I mean a willingness to see beauty in the other, not just what it is about them that might need helping.” (4:15). In “No Way Home” Peter Parker sees the beauty of the real people behind the villainous masks they wear, and despite their crimes towards himself and society, he works to make them whole again. The villains he helps were once fathers, renowned scientists, and overall good people. He doesn’t just want to absolve them from their role as a villain, he wants to return them to their original state of humanity. Parker had the choice to send them home as the unhappy versions of themselves to plague their original universe, but he instead made a sacrifice for the sake of compassion. He willingly accepted his friends and families to have their memories of him erased for things to return to normalcy. He saved those who did not know they needed to be saved. Peter Parker is not perfect. He is a teenage boy with the faults of impulsiveness and indecision, and that’s okay according to Krista Tippett. The Ted Talk speaker touches upon the fact that despite our flaws as human beings, we can work through them to ensure that we can provide others with compassion. Selfishness, greed, and lust are all things that take us farther from our human counterparts and prevent us from coexisting peacefully. Working through these flaws and recognizing them to begin with is a positive step in the right direction. 

I believe compassion comes with experience. To know compassion is to have received it once before. College students are so entangled with their own day-to-day lives that they forget the true meaning of what it is like to have others in it. Taking valuable time to commit to others and yourself is a prime example of how some people develop more of a sense of consideration towards their coworkers, family members, and friends. The world is fast-paced, but that does not mean we have to make the time spent with people race along with it. Having meaningful interactions without the urgency of feeling rushed fosters a more meaningful connection with a person. Being someone like Dr. Randolph Bell will leave one feeling as though they lived a life that was unfulfilled and meaningless. Be a Peter Parker. No, that does not mean fighting the Green Goblin but instead, seeing the good in what others consider to be broken. People may be flawed, but through the selflessness of committing time towards another, you give yourself the ability to develop more of a sense of compassion. One may not be able to save the multiverse, but I firmly believe that the simple act of compassion will help heal the universe we (and Peter Parker) live in.