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I love movies, and I have a DVD collection of a few dozen favorites. I invest in a DVD when I love a movie so much that I know I'll want to watch it again at least three more times in the future. I recently went to my collection to get "Pay It Forward" with Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osmont. To my astonishment, I discovered that I hadn't purchased it yet! It took five minutes on Amazon to correct that oversight. I've seen the movie a couple times already, but I'm ready to see it again. My wife says she won't watch it because it breaks her heart. It breaks my heart, too, from beginning to end, but that doesn't stop me. I know other people can't watch it because it's so sentimental. If you've seen the movie, you know it's about compassion. I believe compassion is a form of character strength, because it’s not always so easy to sense the needs, feelings and distress of others when you have your own burdens. Disappointment, pain and loss have a way of focusing your mind inwardly. Also, people are remarkably different from each other, which makes communication, understanding and tolerance challenging. In most cases, other people's troubles are different from yours; and you don't know what these troubles are, which makes it hard to appreciate their situation. Imperfect people act imperfectly. Sometimes they're thoughtless or careless, and the instinctive reaction is not a compassionate one. It’s hard to keep in mind that this is just another human being who struggles with life and feels pain just as you do. Much has been said about compassion. During the last 2,500 years, more people have had something to say about this than any other topic, or so it seems. Here are a few of my favorites: “Even when you’re really needy, you’ve got to give more than you receive.” - Christopher Reeve, American actor (1952- ) "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them." - Dalai Lama, Tibetan religious leader (1935- ) "If we want a love message to be heard, it has to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it." - Mother Teresa, Indian humanitarian (1910-1997) "Be generous! Give to those you love; give to those who love you; give to the fortunate; give to the unfortunate - yes, give especially to those you don't want to give to. You will receive abundance for your giving." - W. Clement Stone, American businessman (1902-2002) "Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image on men's souls, and a beautiful image it is." - Blaise Pascal, French scientist (1623-1662) "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." - Aesop, Greek fabulist (B.C. 620-560) The key is empathy. Yes, we may have to tap into our inner strength, but we need to reach out with imagination and sensitivity to understand our fellow human beings. If we and others fail to do this, then our world will not be a compassionate world; and a world without generosity, consideration and kindness is not one we want to live in.
Article Source: http://www.articledestination.com
Dennis E. Coates is CEO of Performance Support Systems, author of MindFrames, a brain-based personality assessment system (www.initforlife.com) and co-founder of the Train-to-Ingrain alliance (www.train-to-ingrain.com, info@train-to-ingrain.com, 800-488-6463), which delivers a reinforcement-centered approach to learning and development that achieves permanent, measurable improvements in workplace behavior and positive impacts on business results.
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