Compassion is a odd thing. Compassion is a hard emotion to identify. One act of kindness, may not be identified as such. That act of kindness can be seen as an act of pity. Compassion is a really odd thing, as there is no way to really explain compassion to the person looking in. to the one watching, it may look like an act of kindness, of compassion, but does that on looker really know if that action was an action of goodwill or annoyance? In Barbara Lazear Ashleys article “On Compassion.” Her idea of compassion is analyzed. As a new yorker, Asher looks primarly to the way homeless people are treatedand looked upon.Are the gifts these beggers recieve really from deep feelings of compassion? Or is it something forced? Throughout the essay, she uses questions like these, that leads the audience to answer these questions in their head. By asking these questions the reader can realized Ashers points without her coming out and saying it pointblank. …show more content…
Throughout her essay Asher brings in her audience and makes them truly think about what she is saying, through the use of rhetorical questions.
For example, she starts off her essay with a story of a homeless man approaching a mother alone with her young child. After awhile, the mother hands out a dollar for the homeless man to take.He takes it. Then wals away. After this story, Asher asks a simple staright to the point question,”was it fear or compassion that motivated the gift?” This simple quesion engages the reader further into her essay, and makes them question themselves. The reader reads these questions and cant help but to read more and more of Ashers
essay. Asher is brilliant in her use of imagery. One example, “Ladies in high heeled shoes pick their way through poverty and madness,” Sophisticated people, within such a densely populated area, will sometimes encounter something or someone that seems “beneath them,” and normally this is just as, “it is what it is.” But this sentence challenges that thought. Should that be how it is? This use of imagery further communicates Ashers thoughts by arguing against the norm, that we fight only for ourselves, and that compassion, however not genuine at times, still lives on. Another rhetorical device that Archer uses it Pathos. Asher uses pathos to put an image in her readers head to further again. One example that Asher uses is “ poorly dressed, stained, and, foul smelling.” By describing the encounters between the homeless and other citizens. Evoke even more emotion form her audience. Archer uses rhetorical questions, imagery, and pathos. She uses all three of these to engage her audience into her essay and to figure out if these citizens are treating the homeless with pity? Or is it really compassion?
The definition of compassion: sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. As this definition shows compassion shows concern for other that every person would love to have. In The Chosen written by Chaim Potok, Mr. Potok really presents compassion in his book. Not only does he display compassion in one of his character but in every single one he gives them compassion that is expressed in different ways. He goes into detail example of compassion with each of his characters and really emphasizes the true meaning of compassion.
“Compassion is always, at its most authentic, about a shift from the cramped world of self-preoccupation into a more expansive place of fellowship, of true kinship.” These words come from the book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, written by Gregory Boyle, an American Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries, an organization that provides employment training and support to former gang members. I was first introduced to Father Boyle’s work during my final semester at College of the Holy Cross in “Contemporary Christian Morality”, a favorite course of mine that examined the fundamental ethics of moral agency, human freedom, conscience, sin, suffering and virtue. It was a book that has continued to stay with me for
Today's world is filled with both great tragedy and abundant joy. In a densely populated metropolis like New York City, on a quick walk down a street you encounter homeless people walking among the most prosperous. Unfortunately, nine times out of ten the prosperous person will trudge straight past the one in need without a second thought. A serious problem arises when this happens continually. The problem worsens when you enter a different neighborhood and the well-to-do are far from sight. Many neighborhoods are inhabited only by the most hopeless of poverty - ridden people while others downtown or across the park do not care, or are glad to be separated from them. Such is the problem in New York City today and in Mott Haven in Jonathan Kozol's Amazing Grace. I have lived in New York City all my life and I had no idea that these problems were going on so close to home. If I live about three miles away from Mott Haven and I am not aware of the situation there, then who is?
Compassion has became something rare in our society, and something that a lot of people lack. The author, Barbara Lazear Ascher, explains to us that compassion is not a character trait, but rather something that we learn along the way with the help of real life situations we encounter, such as the ones she encountered herself. Ascher persuades her audience that compassion is not just something you are born with by using anecdotes, rhetorical questions, and allusions.
Writer, Barbara Lazear Asher, uses the quintessential use of persuasive appeals to inform and persuade the reader. Her purpose to illustrate compassion through observation and experiences is acknowledged and thoroughly detailed throughout the text. “On compassion” uses an ideal amount of logos, pathos, ethos within the essay drawing from life in the city. Barbara’s account of experienced kindness is felt and understood to the reader. The acts of sympathy and compassion are clearly detailed within the text. Asher imposes her attitude on compassion through figurative language welcomes in the idea of
Barbra Huttmann’s purpose in writing her story in A Crime of Compassion is to convince people that no matter their beliefs, it is sometimes more humane to let someone die if they are suffering. This was the case with a cancer patient of hers named Mac. She communicates this directly by saying, “Until there is legislation making it a criminal act to code a patient has requested the right to die, we will all of us risk of the same face as Mac” (Huttmann 422).
Barbara Huttman’s “A Crime of Compassion” has many warrants yet the thesis is not qualified. This is a story that explains the struggles of being a nurse and having to make split-second decisions, whether they are right or wrong. Barbara was a nurse who was taking care of a cancer patient named Mac. Mac had wasted away to a 60-pound skeleton (95). When he walked into the hospital, he was a macho police officer who believed he could single-handedly protect the whole city (95). His condition worsened every day until it got so bad that he had to be resuscitated two or three times a day. Barbara eventually gave into his wishes to be let go. Do you believe we should have the right to die?
In today’s society, acts of compassion are rare as we get more and more focused on satisfying our desire for success and wealth. However, humans do sometimes show remarkable acts that melts the hearts of men and women and restore faith in humanity within those who are less optimistic. But it might not always be a kind return that you may get from such action. In the story “Sweat” by Barry Webster, a young girl named Sue allows Jimmy as an act of kindness to lick her “honey” on her body. As a result, Jimmy chokes from the honey and Sue gets more rejected from the other students at her school. By using characterization, dialogue and narration, Webster demonstrates the theme that compassion and kindness can bring more consequences than benefits when these actions are done by those who are different.
What is compassion? It has two components. One component of compassion means to put yourself in another person’s shoes, and ask yourself, What if I were that person? How would I feel? So, compassion means to develop an awareness of the suffering in another person. Another component of compassion is self-compassion, having compassion doesn’t always have to be putting everyone else before you, sometimes compassion can mean putting yourself first. Throughout generations, compassion has played an important role in many people, it’s a natural instinct within all of us. We show compassion towards our loved ones, when confronted with someone in pain, we
...on the homeless community. I previously held preconceived notions that the homeless consisted of people who were either unable to connect and form relationships with others or didn’t desire to do so. Yet, I observed most everyone greeting one another and reminiscing with those who have been absent from the community for a while, as well as, expressing concern for those missing. I recognized that the homeless may live in a non-traditional way, but they have established their own communities and are successful in forming and maintaining cohesive relationships.
Radey, M., & Figley, C. R. (2007). The social psychology of compassion. Clinical Social Work Journal, 35(3), 207-214.
throughout the novel allows the audience to gain a better understanding and personal compassion for both the character and the author. 	The novel is written in a short, choppy sentence structure using simple word choice, or diction, in a stream of consciousness to enable the reader to perceive the novel in the rationale of an eleven-year-old girl. One short, simple sentence is followed by another, relating each in an easy flow of thoughts. Gibbons allows this stream of thoughts to again emphasize the childish perception of life’s greatest tragedies. For example, Gibbons uses the simple diction and stream of consciousness as Ellen searches herself for the true person she is.
To begin, I support the author’s argument that people think they know what’s best for the homeless when they
In a 1st world country — Homelessness is a topic easily overlooked. Barbara Lazear Ascher, author of “On Compassion”, was able to focus on the raw and philosophical side of how homelessness teaches compassion. Through the use of imagery, rhetorical questions, and allusion, Ascher successfully details her claim that compassion is taught through example and not a birth given right.
Compassion is having sympathy for someone who is suffering or who is less fortunate. By having compassion, it shows that you care enough to respect others’ well-being. I use the value of compassion every day, from when I wake up to when I go to sleep. It makes me a better person because I’m not being selfish and I get a better understanding of where people come from. I started to be more compassionate when I got into high school, my freshman year I met a lot of knew people that I probably would have never even thought about talking to. It changed my life in a positive way, I know that not everyone is the same and you can’t always judge someone without getting to know them first. Going into situations I have to have an open-mind.