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Compassion Archives - juesatta (CJ Photography)

Passing on the kindness

By Compassion
adieu (photography by Enzo Penna)

adieu (photography by Enzo Penna)

My friends and I had just finished lunch at a hotel when it started to pour heavily. When it became lighter, I decided to brave the drizzle to get my car, which was parked at my office three streets away.

My friends argued that I shouldn’t go, mainly because I was seven months pregnant then. I assured them that I’d be very careful. One of them wanted to come with me but I insisted that she stayed with another friend who needed help with her baby.

I walked out of the hotel and started making my way to the car. At the traffic junction, a van stopped and the passenger alighted with an umbrella. Before I knew what was happening, he walked right beside me and told me he’d escort me to my destination. I was very embarrassed and declined, but he was very persistent.

During our walk, he kept telling me to walk slower, as the ground was wet. When we got to the car-park, I thanked him and we parted ways. I did not get his name and may not even recognise him now. Did he purposely stop for me? I’ll never know.

So how did I pay it forward? I was at home when I noticed two Indian construction workers walking in the heavy rain. They were probably on their way to the construction site near my estate, which was a long walk in. I went out and passed them an umbrella. They were taken aback by my gesture, and I told them they should take the umbrella and keep it. They were very grateful and like me, probably wondered why a stranger was offering such kindness.

[Article: Vicky Chong (Singapore), published in Reader’s Digest]

Lincoln and the helpless little creature

By Compassion, Drawing and artwork, Wisdom

Lincoln and the helpless little creature - by CJ

Lincoln and the helpless little creature - by CJ

“I could not have slept tonight if I had left that helpless little creature to perish on the ground.”
– Abraham Lincoln

In reply to friends who chided him for delaying them by stopping to return a fledgling to its nest.

Compassion is how a mother’s tender heart quivers at the pain and suffering of her child when the child is sick. A mother is willing to do anything to alleviate her child’s suffering. As with boundless love, we also develop compassion to all beings who suffer pain and despair. A compassionate person cannot possibly be cruel to any being.

Love is the greatest kindness of all is a mother’s boundless, unconditional and protective love for her child. If we can shower a mother’s love on all living beings, our love would be boundless, unconditional and non-discriminatory. It’s boundless because we are reaching out to all beings. It is unconditional because we do not love with conditions attached or expectations of rewards or reciprocation. It is non-discriminatory, and this means it is given to all and not through selective choice or to one more than the other.

If we realize that all beings are subject to same vulnerability and mortality where all of us suffer from pain and eventual death, and all of us also appreciate being loved and cared for, then it makes sense to extend our love to all beings boundlessly, unconditionally and without discrimination. Just as we love our family and friends, let us widen our circle of love and kindness, and extend these feelings of goodwill and caring to encompass all living beings.

by Chan Kay Yein, Ph.D.