Yesterday, I bought some food at Golden Shoe Complex. As I was queuing up, I noticed a cleaner. He was a hunchback, and couldn't stand straight. What he had to do was lean on the trolley that he was wheeling around in order to collect dirty plates, bowls and utensils. He was clearing the plates in a pretty rough manner, throwing them hastily into the bin.
I looked at him and suddenly I felt like buying him a box of bird's nest, giving it to him and telling him "thanks" for his cleaning services. I also wanted to pray for him to be healed. Following that thought, I asked myself whether what I had felt was compassion or pity.
This "compassion or pity" thing troubled me greatly enough for me to ask my boss and my colleagues today what the difference was. My boss looked up the root form of both words - pity implies a feeling, condescension and nothing more, whereas compassion encompasses empathy and sympathy with being moved to action. So after that, I was more reassured that what I had felt was compassion rather than pity.
I wonder: If five or more people went up to him every day to say "thank you", would he then be more cheerful in doing his job and feel more appreciated and more valued?
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