by wisconsin_cur » Wed 04 Jun 2008, 00:44:59
I'm thankful that so many have decided to contribute to this thread but if we could try to bring it back to the issue of compassion.
I would like to expand upon what RSG said a few pages back,
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RedStateGreen', 'I')t sounds like people are confusing compassion with sentimentality.
Compassion cares for their animals. Sentimentality will starve rather than slaughter them.
Compassion helps others. Sentimentality will help others to the detriment of themselves and their family.
The difference is boundaries. Compassion feels badly for suffering but has boundaries. Sentimentality has no boundaries and no self-protection. It's grandiose and delusional.
This evening I was on my way to dinner. I watched an African American UPS driver stop his truck (blocking traffic) get out and give directions to an elderly white blind man who looked lost. Those UPS drivers are under a lot of pressure to make a lot of stops and to not waste time... I would not have even thought to help, even if I had noticed the man to begin with.
Fast-forward to my job. Lets say tonight that I have to deal with an angry violent beligerant meth head. It gets ugly and I have to go get a few stitches in the ER (not the first time). I can hate the guy but what if it is the younger cousin of the UPS driver? I know how I feel about my cousins despite their self destructive habits, I love them, they are family. this meth head is loved by someone. The fact that they made certain decisions is a tragedy and I can feel bad about the tragedy, I can call it a tragedy.
This is much more true than just using broad brush strokes to place the world in camps of good and evil or "dirtbags" and "hard working americans." We may still treat the criminal in the same way but we can mourn the tragedy of it all. They too were once a little kid who wanted to grow up and be an astronaut or operate the backhoe.