The Day I Failed To Show Compassion: A Hard-Won Lesson

We live in a world where everyone is busy making money and concerned with solving their problems. It’s a fast-paced world where the rich pass by the poor without even offering to help. Sadly, many people would rather see their fellow human beings suffer than offer a helping hand. This is why parents should make sure that they equip their children with the necessary virtues and teach them to steer clear of vices that can cause problems to society. Every day, I'm grateful for my mother and how she brought me up. She equipped us, me and my siblings, with the necessary virtues, and one of them is compassion.

My mom would rather give her last penny than watch another person suffer. She would often go to great lengths to help and empathize with others who are suffering and also to alleviate their pain and make them happy. Doing these things made my mom happy. There was always a huge smile on her face when she helped someone in need. However, my dad and we, her children, didn't understand her selflessness earlier. We'd often get angry when she goes overboard, questioning her about her decisions. “Why would you give someone your last penny when we are also struggling?” Of course, we weren't against the idea of her showing compassion to people, but she often went overboard with it. After complaining several times and there were no changes, we decided to let my mom follow her heart and do what made her happy.

Compassion is not only when you give financial assistance to those in need. There are different ways of showing compassion, it could be to offer listening ears to a friend (or a random person) who needs it. You'd be surprised to know that your little acts of compassion could go a long way not only in putting smiles on faces but also transforming lives. Ever since my childhood days, I have disliked seeing people in pain. My mom likely played a significant role in shaping this part, as watching her daily acts of kindness and compassion influenced me greatly. I always try my best to solve people’s problems. However, I’ve had bad days where I failed to show compassion to my fellow human beings.

It happened on a Monday. For me, Monday is the roughest and busiest day of the week. My classes start at 8am and end in the evening, at 4am. Usually, if I wake up early, I try to fix myself breakfast before going to school. And on days when I don’t, I skip breakfast and rush to school. Then I'll come back in the evening to eat my first meal of the day. I remember that day like it happened yesterday. The lecturer informed us on Sunday evening that we'd be having a test the next day. Somehow, I skipped dinner because I had so much to read. I planned to wake up very early to prepare breakfast, but fate had other plans in store for me. I woke up very late and had to rush to school.

After the test, we had back to back classes till evening. At that time, my stomach was singing nursery rhymes. My eyes were blurry and I could feel myself almost fainting. Finally, when the last class ended, I rushed out of the class and started heading home. I had just one thing in mind; go home and eat. As I walked home under the scorching sun, hot enough to dry an egg, something happened; as soon as I stepped out of the school’s gate, a guy approached me out of nowhere. He begged me to give him something because he was famished. Usually, when people like this approach me and I don’t have anything to offer at that time, I always ignore them and keep walking. But that day was different. It was as if he was literally screaming “I am hungry,” in my ears.”

I'm pretty sure the hunger pangs had something to do with it. All of a sudden, I yelled out, “Leave me alone” and quickened my steps. It wasn't until I reached my hostel and ate that I started regretting my actions. Who knows what the guy was going through? What if I was in a position like that and I needed help? Would I be happy if someone yelled at me like that? I had a million and one question troubling my mind. “I shouldn't have yelled at him. I shouldn't have yelled at him at all.” Instead, I should have walked away. Ever since that day, I have been on the lookout for him, hoping to make amends if I see him again. However, I haven't seen him since then.

This is my entry to the Inleo prompt for day 3. The topic is: share your experience with compassion.

Thanks for reading.