Compassion In The Face of Coronavirus

To me, I feel like this world is split into two, and maybe you think so too. Constant fighting on who’s right versus who’s wrong. Nonstop finger-pointing. Blame. Cruel words that turn into bigger problems and hurt feelings, has anyone just stopped for a moment to listen?

A couple days ago I was walking home from my university’s library when I noticed someone else was walking toward me on the sidewalk in the opposite direction. Sometimes these passings can be awkward, you know someone is coming, do you wave? Look down? Pretend you’re on your phone? I’m not sure. However, when the college-aged young man walked past me he said, “I hope you have a good day.” It took me aback as I was not expecting him to say anything. I responded with a simple, “thank you, you too.” This quick interchange of communication was probably no longer than 5 seconds, but it turned my whole day around. The simple seven words combined to be a sentence of “I hope you have a good day” carried a whole lot of meaning to me. As I continued walking home, the overthinker that I am, kept replaying this interaction over in my head. I kept thinking, “I wish he could have seen me smile under my mask.”

You may be thinking why was this little gesture such a big deal to you? And that’s exactly it, it was little. I was taken aback this day because we don’t do the little things anymore that make us feel whole and humanlike. Whatever happened to saying “please” and “thank you.” Or instead of having someone with one item skip in front of us in the grocery line, we are now worried about people standing one inch too close to us at checkout.

I miss smiling at strangers because now my smile is protected behind a mask for my safety and others. I miss seeing people hold doors for each other. I miss the little gestures of compassion the most. 

Writing this blog took me weeks to actually think of what compassion really is? I’d ask some of my friends and I’d get a lame answer of, “I don’t know, isn’t it the same thing as love.” So incredibly helpful, thanks, guys.

 It was bothering me that I didn’t have a concrete definition of what compassion is. Yes, there is google, but compassion can’t be found there. I thought compassion was this bigger than life gesture filled with empathy and emotions. If you gave thousands of dollars to a charity in need you have compassion, or maybe the people who find stray dogs on the road and bring them into their warm homes have compassion. I really didn’t know what this complex English word of compassion meant or even how to express it until the boy that walked past me on the sidewalk with his simple sentence.

Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to say, “I hope you have a good day” to someone you don’t even know and frankly will probably never see again. Compassion is holding doors for people who are behind you, even though they are capable of holding the handle themselves. It’s having someone go in front of you in line with a hungry infant sitting in their grocery cart. It’s the little gestures I miss and what the world needs most. Right now It seems like the answer is compassion, or maybe a giant bandaid, I’m not quite sure. But what I do know is, one small gesture of compassion can change someone’s day. Don’t be afraid to express it.

Lastly, I hope you have a good day.

Be kind,

Maggie Paulus

NorthShoreCenter LLC