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Compassion - a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.
What would happen if every man, woman and child on earth was able to experience true compassion for just one day, at the same time? What a staggering thought. True compassion does not need to be an act of magnitude, it can be as small as suddenly seeing that one's fish aquarium is covered in algae and deciding there and then to immediately do something to improve the situation. Or one could stop thinking about their everyday woes and for the first time in weeks see that their plants are parched and cramped in tiny, old pots and quickly give them a drink, before finding new pots to plant them into. The ripple effect would see owners taking their dogs out to the forest or beach for a good, long walk, instead of just accepting that letting it out into a small yard twice a day is good enough.
All around the world, people would feel as though their eyes were suddenly being opened as they begin to 'see' what has been in front of them all along, and would feel a mixture of surprise and delight as they improve the lives of others with minimal effort just by feeling compassion for them. It is amazing that so many are able to feel compassion when an extreme event such as the tsunami in Japan is made known to them, but can go home and forget to feed the cats and not feel terribly troubled about it when they realise it afterwards. This is because compassion only happens when one 'sees' what needs to be alleviated, if the cats could make a YouTube video about what it feels like for them to be hungry - complete with heartbreaking images and music - there is no doubt they would ever be forgotten again...but cats can't make YouTube videos.
Although it's a silly metaphor, it makes a valid point. Compassion is not an independent entity, it can only exist when there is a trigger that causes the feeling to kick in. The issue is that most of humanity seems to have lost contact with the natural trigger which occurs whenever compassion is required. It goes beyond the scope of this post to discuss the science behind this, but it's clear that somewhere along the way man has created an internal guilt-free system that allows them to ignore the needs of one (less worthy) while showing compassion for the needs of another (more worthy) - sometimes simultaneously.
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