Voices of the Children
Kate Coll
Imagine a world without compassion and caring. There would be no granddaughter mowing her grandmother’s lawn, no blood banks, no one donating bone marrow to a stranger. There would be no tsunami relief fund, no 4-H leaders, no Red Cross volunteers, no homeless shelter. There would be no one singing Christmas carols at the senior center, no one providing lunch to the homeless at the rescue mission, and no one donating clothes to others in need. Life would be like white bread, stripped of all important grains. Compassion is hard to define, but it is probably relates to love.
Our newspapers and magazines cover Movie stars, millionaires, murders, and destruction, but they seem to often miss the important things in life such as caring, compassion, volunteerism, and acts of kindness. But we need to write about compassion in newspapers and magazines, because it will inspire readers to be compassionate. I use to sing a song when I was little. It goes something like this: “Love is like a magic penny hold it tight and you wont have any, but if you give it away, you will end up having more.” When I was little I didn’t understand it, but now that I’m older I understand that it means that when you do something helpful for someone, the compassion becomes contagious. I also think that compassion and caring are like pebbles thrown in a pond. When you toss them in the water, there are ripples that spread. If you drop a kind word, the kindness will spread to others. Compassion is like an echo in a canyon, the caring word bounces against the walls and repeats itself in the lives of others. The same thing can happen with an unkind word. It can infect others with cruelty and unkindness. Without stories of compassion, the media misses the core value of human beings.
Compassion is like a chameleon- it shows itself in many different colors. Some people do acts of compassion as part of their job, such as firefighters who put their lives on the line to save people and wild life, teachers and counselors who educate youth even though the job does not pay very much, and police officers who make our world a safer place. Another color of compassion is donating money to help others. Some of those who are wealthy show compassion by establishing foundations, such as the Gates Foundation and the Alberston’s Foundation. But it is just as important when those with less money give with compassion. Anther color of compassion are the individual acts of caring such as the father who is hungry but gives the last piece of bread to his child, the man who dove into the Payette river to rescue the woman trapped in her car, and the grandmother who raises her grandchildren even though she is tired.
Today I was trying to think of compassionate acts that kids have done, and at first I had some trouble. I think maybe that for kids to become compassionate they must first have experienced or at least have watched compassion. I have seen friends at school comforting others when they have a tragedy in their family, sticking up for the underdog when they have no friends and are being teased, and taking care of hurt animals.
My dream for a compassionate future is that compassion will spread like the common cold. One act of uncommon compassion is good, but a life of uncommon compassion is even better. If I practice the piano, maybe I’ll become a musician in the end. My dream is that we all do acts of compassion, which will lead us to become compassionate people and leave Idaho , our country, and the world a better place to live.