by Roger Grant

Created on: March 19, 2009

The fruit never falls far from the tree and so it is with the challenge of instilling good values in our children such as developing the habit of compassion.

Everything starts with you and a self examination of how you treat people on a daily basis. Your offspring will not act consistently on what you say but on what you do. So it all starts with you. Compassion is a rare quality in todays society and developing it is easier said than done. Most people may not even think it is necessary to be kind to or to defer to others. They may think they will be considered to be weak or soft. It is true that showing compassion to others is not desirable nor normal in this dog eat dog world.

The golden rule however to follow in our journey to become more compassionate is to "do unto others as you would like them to do unto you" because what man has ever "hated his own flesh". The first priority of course must be to start at home. The documentary on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, considered by historians as one of the most humble men to have lived, revealed that he was very callous towards his wife. Compassion is not for public show or you are doing it with the wrong motives. If you are genuinely concerned about the welfare of others this must be firstly exercised in your home. If not practiced here your children will have to learn these habits from someone else (you bastard).

You should be practicing acts of kindness towards your wife/husband and children and seeing to their needs in a selfless manner. You see being compassionate means that you elevate the need of your family above your own, then extending this genuine love to the wider society.

Developing this habit beyond your family and circle of friends is even more difficult but is the true test. Your habit must be sourced from a perspective of seeing all human beings as being worthwhile and of equal importance to yourself regardless of race, sexual orientation, class, economic background etc. You must see that all humans have shortcomings and it is to those that are disadvantaged, oppressed and weak that you must pay attention to most if you are to make compassion a hallmark of your behaviour.

What are examples of compassion? It is taking the load off your wife around the house by leading when it comes to matters of fixing things and so on. It is to take care when someone falls ill instead of getting upset that they are holding you back.It is to conversate with your spouse and children and find out whats bugging them and

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>