Moa Jamir
"Compassion is the basis of all morality," declared 19th century German Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer while Mahatma Gandhi stressed that, “It ill becomes us to invoke in our daily prayers the blessings of God, the Compassionate, if we in turn will not practice elementary compassion toward our fellow creatures.”
Literally referred as “to suffer together,” compassion is defined by emotion researchers as “the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering (University of Berkeley, California).”
It is the core tenets of major religion as well as basic human ethos and moral value. Helping one another and working towards collective welfare has also been recognised as positive ‘social capital’ of the Nagas – an enriching traditional legacy.
However, despite such attributes, if we look at the current state of affairs, it is quite paradoxical that endemic corruption has embedded every sphere of the society - sharp contrast from our religious teaching and the moral ethos we inherited from our ancestors.
Is this a sign of fading compassion or to put it more specifically, is our society tilting towards an ‘indifferent’ society?
Corruption watchdog, Transparency International argues that corruption translates into human suffering, failure in the delivery of basic services like education or healthcare, derails the building of essential infrastructure; while policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing are manipulated by decision makers, who abuse their position to sustain their power, status and wealth at the expense of the public good.
A familiar situation we encounter daily in our life which one can assert is a telling symptom.
Compassion, however, has been recognised as a positive attribute and is now encouraged to be actively cultivated in every sphere of life.
In the field of education, compassion is considered as “foundational to all we do in character education” by instilling a strong work ethic, a passion for knowledge, and social skills on the students, according to Legacy Educational Resources, Inc, an organization dealing with compassionate teaching. However, these qualities without compassion can prove to be detrimental, as it adds, “Without compassion, these traits can propel a dangerous narcissist to the head of company or a country.” Vinciane Rycroft of Mind with Heart, wrote in The Guardian that, “Teaching school children happiness, empathy, altruism and compassion has proven beneficial results for classroom learning as a whole.”
How far such attributes are reflected in our educational system by educators, administrators and the government?
In healthcare, compassion has long been recognised as a key factor in improving patient experience. It is about ensuring the patients are treated with compassion, dignity and respect in a clean, safe and well-managed environment, runs a National Health Service manual in UK. In 2013, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center pinpointed at three specific elements of compassion: recognizing that the patient is suffering, emotional resonance and actually moving to address the suffering.
Besides affliction with basic infrastructure bottlenecks, does a patient undergo such experiences in our hospital? Kanov et al (2011) noted that facilitating the process of compassion becomes paramount in any organization (business or otherwise) saying, “The experience of compassion— be it as a recipient, a witness, or a participant—can make an important difference for organizational members, customers, and whole organizations.” A neuroscientific study by Olga Klimecki & others of Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences also noted: “Development of social emotions such as compassion is crucial for successful social interactions as well as for the maintenance of mental and physical health, especially when confronted with distressing life events.”
Beside empirical researchers, one can logically infer from our own experiences that compassion is a positive human attribute ensuring a healthy societal relationship.
However, owing to pervasiveness of corruption, we seem to be directing our compassion towards a negative attribute. As Pierre de Vos, a South African constitutional law scholar once asked, if there are no tangible adverse consequences for those who are corrupt, if we show too much compassion and understanding and do not insist on the corrupt being punished, are we not contributing to it…?
Seeking candid and honest answers to this difficult question will go a long way in bringing back compassion in our society again.
For any comment, drop a line to moajamir@live.com
