Passionate About Compassion

"Passionate about Compassion" How many people see someone that desperately needs the helping hands of others, then actually acts upon it? It’s much easier to wish that you could help someone in need, then truly take the necessary action to assist. However, in the two articles, “Manchester Couple to Retire to Ghana, Where They’ll Care for Children” by Adam Sawamura, and “Improbable Family Tie: Iraqi Boy, Former GI” by Carrie Antlfinger, the main characters all display the ultimate form of compassion humanly possible. Compassion is defined from the Webster’s New World Dictionary as, “sorrow for the suffering or trouble of another or others, accompanied by an urge to help.” The Boisverts display compassion by spending their retirement helping
Southworth feels a sense of empowerment to rescue Ala from his best case scenario, “that he would stare at a blank wall for the rest of his life.” The article refers to Southworth’s goals at home to be a district attorney, with the primary goal in mind to be, “tough on criminals who committed injustices against children.” This shows that Southworth had already developed a sense of compassion for children before deploying to Baghdad. Although Iraqi law prohibites from adopting Iraqi children, Southworth’s motivation and compassion drives him to overcome the daunting obstacles that would soon follow, to hopefully one day adopt Ala, and be able to legally call him
At the age of nine Ala weighed only fifty five pounds and lived in a crowed orphanage with about twenty kinds with physical or mental disabilities. Once arriving in Wisconsin, Ala’s health greatly improved, he surpassed the amount of times he had seen a doctor in all his time in Iraq while only being in the United States for six months. Ala had now been privileged, thanks to Southworth, to receive physical therapy to help control his head and other muscles. Now only after four years, at the age of thirteen he’s doubled his weight to a hundred and eleven pounds. Southworth says, “we crossed political boundaries. We crossed religious boundaries. There was a massive effort – all on behalf of this little boy who desperately needed people to actually take some action and not just feel sorry for him.” Southworth’s story truly defines the meaning of compassion. He not only felt sorry for, and had an urge to help Ala, but rather he acted on his feelings and did everything with in his power to provide Ala a healthier and safer life than he ever experienced