COMPASSION

By: Abdullah R. Sirad

Honesty is the best policy. It’s an old saying in which those people before us lived with. I remember my grandmother saying that during their time, when the accused says “honest to God or swear to God” he mean it’s really true. During those times, there were no NBI or police agents to investigate crimes but still they managed to live peacefully. People have high respect to one another because they strongly fear God’s admonition as consequence to their every deed. Once they committed mistake, they admit and repent about it.

Today, such simple kind of living does not exist anymore. I guess people of today are too intellectual that they could easily distort truth at their favor. We see crimes, oppressions and other injustices on TV involving people of high profile but most of those cases still remained unjustified especially when victims are those weak members of the society.

Rich people and those who have power in government continue to dominate in terms of control in the society. They use their authority and wealth to exploit poor people. They keep on deceiving poor people through their bogus benevolence to take away properties and rights from them. they used to let poor believe that they are compassionate enough but the fact is they are insensitive to the poor suffering and want to grab as much as they can – be it wealth, be it territory or be it symbols of power out of the poor ineptitude. They are overpowered by their greediness and hence can never understand poor people needs.

Politicians, for instance, who claimed to lead people and the country into prosperity, are the one stealing wealth from the poor. They used politics as alibi to balloon their investment while leaving the poor to their usual malady social status after they succeed in their plan. Almost all politicians claim that they are pro poor. That they would serve the poor if elected in the position and they will have plenty of programs to alleviate poverty.

The fact is rich become richer and poor become poorer. And the worse is more than 1.4billion of the world population live at poverty line or below(http://www.globalissues.org/article/4/poverty-around-the-world). In Philippine, it is said to have more than 30.6 million Filipinos or 6.12 million families who are suffering from poverty (2http://www.txtmania.com/articles/poverty.php). Yet, people in authority seem not affected with this. Now look whose talking. Where is then the compassion that these people are saying towards poor? Did they walk their talks? My answer is a vivid NO! Compassion really means sensitivity to others suffering. A person cannot be compassionate unless he/she is sensitive to others suffering. The current status of our political and social system in which poor are neglected and are not given due justice is an evidence that compassion is absent.

In my opinion, unless the powerful and rich section of the society walks the real meaning of compassion by treating the weak sectors in a humane way that our nation shall advance socially and politically. In Islam, the Prophet (PBUH) not only asked people to treat their slaves in a humane way and give them to eat what they eat and give them to wear what they themselves wear but also encouraged them to liberate them and set example by liberating his own slave Zaid and adopted him as his son and treated him most affectionately. The Qur'an says that "And those who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in Allah's way – announce to them a painful chastisement." (9:34)

People who were given fortune in this material world should learn to be honest and realistic to every promise they pronounced. They must give active desires to alleviate others suffering. They must liberate their people from the dungeon of poverty. And compassion is the key to do this.