What Would You Do
“On Compassion” by Barbara Lazear Ascher is an essay to show that no one is born compassionate, “it must be learned, and it is learned by having adversity at our windows, coming through the gates of our yards, the walls of our towns, adversity that becomes so familiar that we begin to identify and empathize with it.”
Throughout the essay Ascher uses examples of homeless people that are being ignored by society except for certain individuals. She is prompted to ask “Was it fear or compassion that motivated the gift?” when she sees one woman fumble through her purse at an intersection to give a man a dollar, as well as when a woman brings a homeless man a warm cup of coffee and a bag with some food from her shop.
Ascher also asks herself why a large majority of individuals are ignoring this part of society. Even though they are homeless and may not have a job they are still human beings. Ascher points out that people generally have negative attitudes towards the homeless, but some people in society are doing more than their share to help society.
What are your views on this topic and are you prompted by “fear or compassion?”
21 comments:
I agree with Ascher when she says that people generally have negative attitudes towards the homeless and that some people in society are doing more than their share to help society.
We in Finland pay taxes 44 percent of our income, where in USA you only pay 25 percent. We are redistributing our wealth to the poor and that is why we in Finland have hardly any homeless people.
I completely agreed when Lazear said that compassion must be learned. When we were little our parents to taught us to treat others with respect and to help others whenever possible. Those that forgot what they were taught or were not taught this "rule" set a bad example and in a way start a snowball effect in which their actions get repeated by others. I think her main point was for everyone to set an example for helping out others in their time of need.
I really dont agree at all with this subject Lazear. I understand that everyone should be compassionate towards people with needs but the line has to be drawn somewhere. If homeless people get more and more 'special treatment' just because their homeless what is giving them the motivation to become not homeless?
Wow Adam I never thought of it that way...definately something to think about!
I disagree with Ascher and agree with Adam. The line definetely has to be drawn somewhere. If we always helped the homeless it would begin to look like we are promoting homeless people because we are always picking up there slack.
I agree with the fact that American society in general does neglect homeless people, but at the same time I don't believe that individuals within society should go out of their way to help every homeless person that they see on the street.
It seems to me that it is the American governments repsonsibility to help with poverty. To me it doesn't seem fair that we should help every single homeless person that we see. In this sense I agree with adam because by us helping homeless people they are not motivated to improve their lives, and sometimes even attempting to help the homeless is not going to help.
We seem to neglect the fact that we are all given the same opportunities within our society and these people are homeless for the decisions they chose to make and the opportunities they neglected to take.
I agree in part with Amanda. But I think that it depends on each persons situation of how they got homeless or if they even want to try to get better in life.
I totally agree when Lazer states that people generally think badly tawards homeless people. when people show no compassion towards the homeless that really shows how society has not change. we as
americans should help rather then discriminate against the poor and homeless. We should be out building shelters so we can get the homeless off the streets.All the taxes we pay should go to the homless anyway.
I don't really agree with you adam because no matter how much "special treatment" a homeless person recieves, because it would still be awful to not have a shelter 24/7 to escape to.
The homeless population of America (heck, of anywhere) is a hard situation to deal with. I believe that, in part, some of those that are homeless have put themselves there (like Amanda A. said). However, there are also those that have not gotten there through any real fault of their own. Some people really do have horrible luck or even get stuck on the wrong side from the beginning (the child that is homeless because the mother's an addict that the system has somehow not caught up to yet).
The problem of the homeless population requires different "cures" for different situations. There are those that truly are down and out and will never make the right descision regarding finances, health, drugs, or what-have-you; those can't be helped because they lack the intelligence to learn from their mistakes in any long-term sense. And then there are those that really try, they just keep failing, iether through their own fault or through society; these could be helped, maybe, given time and maybe a leg up. The truth is that everyone has a flaw, a reason why they're on the street. The 1st key is to address that flaw; maybe they've been there thier whole life and don't know anything better; maybe they're there because they weren't making enough and lost the rent and the rest of thier lives went down the drain. The 2nd key is to decided who will benefit most from help.
Lazear-Ascher is right when she says that problem requires some amount of compassion. But it also requires a good deal of logic and common sense.
When you said that "Ascher points out that people generally have negative attitudes towards the homeless," I find that considerably true, but what others may fail to do is wonder why that person is homeless in the first place. That person could be down on his luck or unable to support himself. Whatever the reason, the right thing to do is help them out, even if it’s giving them a dollar or some food. Whether a person decides to help someone homeless out of compassion or fear or even sympathy is depends on that person’s intentions.
Yeah, I agree with Ascher and those who said that people generally have negative attitudes towards the homeless. I went to NYC for Christmas this past year...and some of the homeless people are really funny or really friendly...but then there are those who are yelling at you and saying things and it is scary.
But we don't have any right to say we shouldn't help them. Why should they have to live on the streets if they're down on their luck? I mean, I know that some people do NOTHING to try and help themselves out of it...but the average American is what? Two or three paychecks away from being homeless.
Now that is scary.
Walking on the streets in various cities i have visited, I have only given spare change to a homeless person once. When in a dark spot I may be afraid but i have never given due to fear. The one instant when I have given change was out of compassion. I agree with Ascher when she said that compassion is learned through being around an economic collage. I do not agree, however, that one has any obligation to be compassionate in this matter. One can learn compassion through many aspects of life.
I like the fact that society helps homeless people, not everybody has the privileges that we do. But I also agree that some homeless take advantage of that help and don't do a thing to improve.
When I give a homeless person money or something, I do it for compassion. However if I was in a situation like the man staring at the woman's baby, I honestly would feel fear instead of compassion.
I agree that some homeless people can not help the fact that their homeless and do their best to improve their situation. Some homless people also did not have the oppurtunity to improve their future.
What is not brought up is putting yourself in the shoes of a homeless person. Would you be able to ask for handouts or would you just hide away and wait for a compassionate person to take it upon themselves to help you get back on your feet?
I also think compassion is learned. How we can we know how to be something without being taught. I know as a child, I was taught right from wrong, love from hate, and other "tips". We all need to learn how to be more compassionate and not be afraid to go outside the box. Don;t worry about what other people think. Just think about how you will feel after you have done it.
I agree with Nick G. Whether you are homeless becuase of your own actions or not, you wouldn't just sit around and continue to be homeless without helping yourself. Even if you're a very proud person, and don't want to ask people for favors, there is a breaking point. A person can only take so much before they need help.
I agree with with the author that people do ignore the homeless and the poor. Society has taught people to act as if they were diseased people that should never be looked upon or thought about. In reality, these people are just like us. So what if they don't have a home or they look shabby, we still have to show that we care. They are a part of our society, we cannot just act as if they aren't there. Some people are doing more than their fair share of helping the homeless, but not enough people are helping out. We as a society should do more.
I also agree with Lazear about compassion being learned. My opinion on the homeless is somewhat negative. I understand that some people can not help themselves (mental issues), but most really can help. I really do not understand why they can not find help, I feel that some just do not want to help themselves, but believe me, I do feel bad for homeless people, it is just some only beg for money to support their habits.
I think most people are scared of the homeless and dont understand why they are homeless. People usually have negative attitudes towards things they dont understand and are afraid of.
Many homeless dont have to be homeless if they would just get their act together. Some just had some really bad luck and they will get everything back together. Others are just lazy and dont want to work.
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