To be compassionate is to act

Maybe someone should come up with an ABC of Compassion.

Compassion, in some ways, could be aliken to sympathy. But it is truly one step up, for it involves action.

You might feel pity/sad/disillusioned, etc, for someone, for a cause, but unless you get off your bum to act on that feeling, it is simply sympathy. And you can sit at home, in front of the television, feeling pity for the victims….but all that does, is make you feel “good”. Good about yourself, because you are empathetic, because you are not the victim, because you are better off….

Compassion, on the other hand, translates sympathy into action and more. It is about reaching out, about sharing, about kindness, without pity, without judgments, and it is NOT about YOU. It is about the other party, about the one receiving. You find joy in being the giver, the helper, and not to bask in the glory of thanks or recognition. It comes from a true heart that is willing to assist, to spread the love and kindness all around, to put in that tiny effort that is all of your being.

To be compassionate is to LOVE. If we have love for all the beings, we will be compassionate to all. To act on that love and make the universe a place of less suffering.

I have more sympathy than compassion. But I will act on what I have.