COMPASSION

As I thought more about that young man's simple response that he was thankful for his bed, I thought about how it was prompted by his knowledge of the suffering of others around him. I then began to think about the word "compassion" and how it prompts people to care about others and to do good. The Oxford English Dictionary has some interesting things to say about the word compassion and how it has been used in the English language. You can look more closely at the definitions here: http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50045414?query_type=word&queryword=compassion&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=2M6e-de5WGi-5661&hilite=50045414 The first definition provides an obsolete definition that fell out of use by the 17th century. This intrigues me because the definition focuses on a person "suffering together with another". The later definitions of compassion lose the sense that the person feeling it must also share in the suffering. What was most interesting, however, was when I scrolled down I discovered another word which was "compassion fatigue" which originated in the U.S. (how telling, I thought) circa 1968 and which describes an apparently new sensation particularly among Americans to the suffering of others. That new feeling is "apathy or indifference". I'll have to think some more about whether I think compassion or compassion fatigue is more prevalent today. That young man's response certainly makes me think that compassion fatigue has not won the day yet.