Compassion

If respect is the foundation of all successful relationships, then compassion is the demonstration, or manifestation, of that respect. Everyone, student and teacher alike, has their insecurities, whether they are feelings of loneliness, mediocrity, ignorance or inadequacy. Compassion helps fill the void that self-doubt creates. Compassion is the way in which we relate to, and validate each other and it helps us connect in ways that go beyond an everyday, passive acquaintance. It is our ability to consider a perspective other than our own. This is a critical disposition for us to posses because as people, particularly as teachers, we are continually exposed to personalities that clash with our own. However, effective teachers are able to see beyond the clash to the person, the motives, the dynamic individual that each of their students is.

When I was in junior high, a trying time for any young person, I had the good fortune of having Mrs. Kay Yanecek for my homeroom teacher. She was a truly remarkable woman, with a liberal approach to education and an old world class. I do not know what it was, if she always went to such great lengths to help her students, or if something about me in particular seemed to call out to her for understanding, but she reached out to me and offered me friendship when I had never felt more alone. Some people are naturally charismatic, and they make friends easily, but I was not one of those people, so the transition from elementary school to junior high was a difficult one for me to make. I felt like the only one who had liked things the way they were, and who didn’t feel ready to “move on and meet new people”. Mrs. Yanecek was a blessing, both in the nerve-wracking first weeks and then throughout the entirety of my time there. In the mornings, she would meet me at my locker to talk to me about simple things like my family, or my homework, or to compliment me on something I was wearing. She kept up with my class work, often telling me that she had heard from so-and-so that I had done particularly well on a test and passing on her congratulations. She kept a collection of newspaper articles that featured me pinned up around her room as well as little mementos that I had given her. When I was feeling particularly self-conscious about my body shape, with out my telling her anything, she pointed to one of the articles hanging on her wall (with a picture of me on it) and casually began talking about how pleasing she found the shape of me face, and the warmth of my eyes and smile. With out fail, she kept me feeling buoyed and loved on the days that I was closest to feeling lost and alone. Her compassion was invaluable to me and has continued to shape me through the intervening years.

"The value of compassion cannot be over-emphasized. Anyone can criticize. It takes a true believer to be compassionate. No greater burden can be borne by an individual than to know no one cares or understands."-Arthur H. Stainback

"The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.” -Thomas Merton"

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." -The Dalai Lama