Peaceful and Playful Compassion in Action

One of my friends on Facebook posted this on my fan page yesterday:

I need to share this with compassionate friends.....about 20 years ago, I got to know a nice family. I owned a needlework store, and the parents and two children would come in often. They didn't really have any money to spend on crafts, so I would trade them goods for stitching for me. The children wore tattered clothing, and shoes with holes. They were all thin. Before Christmas that year, the little girl mentioned that she wished for new shoes from Santa. I decided to help them out, anonymously, and sent them a gift certificate to the local grocery store, and a nice check, without my name. Next time I saw them, the children had new shoes on, and were so happy to show them to me. I loved the warmth in my heart, and was so happy to have pulled it off! Last night, I as talking to my daughter who now lives far away . She mentioned that she had been working on a Santa Drive to give baskets and toys to families in need. She also mentioned that I should see if there was one in my area, and that I would enjoy working with the cause. Then she said how much she enjoys helping the needy, because of the example that I was to her, as a teenager. My heart wanted to burst with pride!! I'm so glad to have a compassionate heart!! Little did I know, the difference I was making in my own child. :-)

I thought it was a wonderful and heart warming story. It serves as a wonderful example of how compassion can change many lives: those who are extending compassion to another, those who are receiving the compassion, and those who witness the act of compassion.

We hear so many stories that are about something other than compassion--pain, abuse, torture, ignorance, greed, etc. What might the effects of witnessing these things be? Is that what we want to become?

Go on out there and do something compassionate. Change the world--a little at a time. Pay close attention to how you feel when you witness compassion as compared to when you witness some other experience. Come back here or to my Facebook page and tell us all what you discover.