We are told that “compassion means to journey with the other” which signifies that true compassion isn’t just feeling sorry for the other, or just being concerned about the other, or just validating the emotional state of the other, but goes far beyond that. To be compassionate means to connect ourselves to the suffering of the other, so that we can thereby provide that person with love, and emotional support, as well as to engage them in the sure understanding, that they will not suffer alone, but rather they will have our attentive care to lean upon.
To be compassionate is one of the greatest gifts that we can bestow upon one another, because in being compassionate, we are seeking to do our good part to help those who are hurting and are vulnerable, to thus aid them in their recovery, or if this is not possible, to travel in sympathy with them, upon the path that they are on until it reaches its final or chosen destination.
Those who are compassionate are the same who recognize that to truly care about someone necessitates our devotion to that person, in a way and manner, that will help that person to deal with the difficult or troubling situation that they are in. Indeed, to be compassionate does not necessarily mean that we can resolve what ails the other, but does mean that we can be that ever-present help in times of trouble, and therefore that we will be there for them, come what way, because we will minister to them, so as to share therefore their struggle with them, and to provide for them all that we can reasonably do to let them know that they are valued and we care for them.
It is a truism that not every path that we take is going to be a path without its troubles, and all those that thereby commit to the other, so as to be with them, are the very same, that must acknowledge that when troubling times come, those that are true friends are the ones that stand with those that need such help, because to do anything else, violates what good friendship is all about.
Each of us is meant to find our purpose in life, and one of those seminal purposes is not only to care about one another, but to be compassionate with one another, because every journey that humankind has upon this good earth, results at some point, with some serious challenges, and those then that are facing difficult times need thereby the support of those that will do their best to let them know by their actions and by their words that they are never alone, that they are valued, and that they will not be abandoned. Each of us lives in a society in which the very purpose of that society is to join together for the betterment and wholesomeness of that society, and a compassionate society can only be a society made up of individuals who demonstrate their compassion by being there on the journey with those that are most needful of such.