Compassion is the basis of all morality

I'm about to drop some heavy on you. If you want light, go to YouTube and search for "sneezing puppy".

This blog post will contain ellipses, colons, semicolons, liberal (and correct) comma usage and artistically rendered incomplete sentences...

Also, the thinly veiled political nature of this post is intentional. That is the political nature is intentional, not the thin veil.

You've been warned



Compassion is the basis of all morality.
--Arthur Shopenhauer


I know the importance of compassion to personal happiness and self-worth. If I can get myself to see a situation from another person's perspective--if I can pretend I am them, or their loved one, or their friend--I can calm my own outrage over a perceived offense, I can sooth my insult, I can forgive a misstep against me. I can smile and say I've been there too, I see your point or you need a little latitude today and I understand because I needed a little latitude yesterday.

Compassion allows us to transcend ourselves and to become a part of humanity. Compassion allows us to separate an action from an intention so that we can see that the people aren't so bad, the world is not, infact, full of monsters. Compassion allows us to have a little sympathy for another person's plight in life.

This weekend I was reminded of how innate compassion is. While out for pancakes this morning, Finn noticed an unkempt man in a tattered, dirty duster loitering at the table next to us who appeared to be homeless. I fought the urge to say to Finn, "Don't stare," and found myself immediately caught by my own carelessness; if he were looking at anyone else in the restaurant I would have encouraged him to wave and to practice saying hello. Instead I was diverting my own eyes from this man and assuming that he only wanted to be left alone. And when I started paying attention, I noticed something else: the reverence and concern in my 15-month-old son's face as he looked at this struggling stranger.

I have come to think of Finn as much more evolved than me. At his tender age he naturally wants others to be without suffering. He's a tiny, babbling Buddhist. A raw nerve for others' emotions. When people around him are upset or crying, he gets very calm and quiet, and shuffles over to them for a disarming little snuggle. And once I started looking for it, I came to see this same innate compassion in other young children. I thought I needed to teach Finn compassion, but I now recognize that the most important thing I can do as a parent is simply to protect and nurture the sense of compassion my son already has for others.

I hope Finn will root for the underdog his whole life. I hope he gets into fights he knows he might not win because it means giving voice to what is right, even when what is right is not easy. I hope that equality is an unequivocal ideal for him. I hope he will pull over to help someone get their disabled car out of the road. I hope he will stop to help someone pick up papers they have dropped. I hope that if he sees someone who looks like they have a lot on their mind, that he will say hello and smile at them. I hope that he forgive others quickly and completly.

I know that with a compassionate heart, he will be moral, and just, and kind. He will be loyal, and trustworthy, and friendly. He will have the best type of humor: poignant and critical, but honest and forgiving. I hope that I can protect his compassion so that he can always see the potential for good. I believe that if I help him keep this instinct for caring intact, Finn will be a successful human being.