by Nicole Cook

Created on: March 20, 2009

Walking into a store I see that ahead of me is an elderly lady who clearly has some difficulty walking. She moves at a pace that is half the speed of the average person. Just when I am about to hurry ahead of her in order to hold open the door for her I spot a young man who has beat me to the punch. He graciously stands to the side of the doorway, smiles and nods at the older lady while holding the door open, allowing the elderly woman to slowly shuffle through it. I smile at this simple yet poignant act of compassion from a generation that is all too unfamiliar with it. Unfortunately, acts like these are far and few between nowadays. Its as if compassion has skipped a generation, or is becoming extinct all together.

My generation was taught completely different values than those that the children of today are learning. Or maybe my household was the exception as I knew from a very early age that there were many people out there who had bigger problems than I, were much less fortunate than I was, and that we were to help those people whenever possible if we crossed paths with them out in the world. Compassion and manners go hand in hand I think, as simply saying please and thank you have become a thing of the past.

I have an aunt who is disabled, spends most of her day in a wheelchair and by all accounts looks different than most people her age. She has the mental capacity of an eight year old, has epilepsy and is sometimes required to where a helmet for her safety. Our family has taken her on regular outings to stores and parks, restaurants and family functions. Not one of those instances passed without my aunt having to receive those awful stares and gawking from both children and adults. She knows she is different and feels comfortable and safe when she is out with us, but she will pull me close and whisper the question, "why did they look at me like that"? I have no explanation for her, no simple answer for other peoples lack of compassion and understanding for those people who are different from them.

I can only promise to teach the children I will have someday the same understanding and compassion I was taught some twenty years ago. Initiating a dialog with your children, explaining differences in people as best you can, and teaching them not to judge but accept those differences can allow your children to grow into extremely caring, understanding, non-judgemental, compassionate individuals.

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