Compassion: November/December Professionalism Skills

“Compassion is a foundation for sharing our aliveness and building a more humane world.”

Martin Lowenthal

Jesus Weeping

Compassion makes me think of the statue of Jesus weeping by the Oklahoma City National Memorial, which symbolizes His compassion for the lost lives and families that lost loved ones on the very sad day of April 19, 1995.  When I think of compassion, I also think of the St. Jude’s commercial that shows bald children in the hospital with cancer, the Integris Hospital commercial with the song “Mad World” that shows various people suffering mental illness and depression, and the commercials that show starving children. My heart gets warm and tears run down my cheek as I watch and feel much empathy watching these people suffer in their pain. I immediately wish I could do something to help them so they won’t have to bear their pain.

Henry Lozano said it perfectly when he said “Compassion is the universal language.” It is a language that we all understand no matter what country we are from or what religion we believe in.  Most humans feel empathetic when they see someone hurting or suffering. A tear is a universal sign for sadness just as a smile is a sign for happiness.  We all know and understand how it feels to suffer or be in pain, no matter what causes that pain.  It is difficult for us to witness others suffering.

How does compassion relate to the web design and development profession? There are some professions where people are expected to be compassionate, such as in hospitals, Red Cross organizations, and in the funeral businesses. Why do we need to be compassionate as web designers or developers?  Just like the world wide web connects thousands and thousands of web sites, compassion connects thousands and thousands of people all over our nation and our world.  As designers and developers we will have professional relationships with many different clients and co-workers. Not very many people want to do business with or work with someone that is like “Scrooge” from The Christmas Story. You may have a mother hire you to design a website for her daughter dying of cancer or an organization that is reaching out to people that lost loved ones from drinking and driving. If you are compassionate you will relate more to your clients and what they may be dealing with.

In the web design field, we will have many opportunities to make a difference in others lives by reaching out and helping someone. Compassion is feeling empathy for others and can be the key to making a difference in other’s lives.

“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest ~ a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation, and a foundation for inner security.”

Albert Einstein