Honestly, how compassionate are you?

I’m too compassionate for my own good.

^^ Which means you’d be 4–4? ^^

My initial answer was that I’m not very compassionate. However, the only person listed that I would not help is the woman on the side of the road. The reason isn’t because she cussed me out, but because I don’t stop on the side of the road for people. I can’t even change a tire, so I wouldn’t be very helpful to them.

Oh, and if I recognized the porn star, it’s because I’ve watched her videos. If that’s the case, why wouldn’t I hire her? Is she somehow a worse person because she’s the one getting pounded in front of a camera and not the guy jerking off at his computer desk watching her get pounded while his wife sleeps in the next bedroom? No. Not sure what that has to do with compassion.

I still don’t think I’m very compassionate, but I am a human being with a conscience.

compassionate: sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it

Example:

1. He stole from me? I dunno if I’d help him so easily.

2. Yes. Without a question asked I’d help her. What she did wasn’t so bad. A car accident is serious business.

3. If the only thing I have to go on is that this person looks like someone whose image is circulating around on a a poster in my neighborhood, I’d help without a question.

4. If I recognize her as an underground porn star that means I’ve watched her videos. I have to say in all honesty it would depend on the job. Am I allowed to ask her why she wants this job if she is making good money in the porn industry?

@bkcunningham ” Am I allowed to ask her why she wants this job if she is making good money in the porn industry?”

To get out of the adult film industry? Because B-list porn stars don’t make decent money? What difference does it make; how is it relevant to the job?

@livelaughlove21 hit this on the head for me. I have never thought of myself as being super compassionate, but I would help, with two minor changes. I would pull over for the woman who hit the tree, and I would probably stay with the bike guy, call 911, and give him something to use to stop the bleeding rather than cleaning up the blood – unless I had gloves. Without gloves I would be concerned about contracting AIDS or hepatitis.

I also totally agree that if I know the porn star from watching her work, it would be pretty arrogant and two faced of me not to hire her based on that.

Perhaps she got out because she’s having a sex change operation and I am hiring for a wet nurse, @livelaughlove21. Or maybe she got out of the business because she’s allergic to latex and it is a condom factory. Maybe she got out because she’s having a high risk pregnancy and this job wouldn’t be a good match. Knowing why someone is leaving their current job is very important to me.

@bkcunningham But it’s really none of your business. If she was smart enough to leave a job due to a latex allergy, I’m pretty sure she’d be smart enough not to apply at a condom factory. If she wanted to be a man, I highly doubt she’d be interested in breast feeding someone else’s child. A high risk pregnancy has little to do with her job as a porn star.

Those were some bizarre conditions you came up with, by the way.

Have some compassion, @livelaughlove21. It is a make believe question. I gave make believe answers. I was enjoying myself for a second.

@bkcunningham Compassion? Me? I don’t think we’ve met…

@bkcunningham Your real score would be more like 1–3? (rubbing of the chin)

I have compassion for victims not perpetrators.

@Hypocrisy_Central Yes, all four. Even if I recognized them before I started helping them, I would do what I could, anyway. In some cases I would fervently hope that the people would look at how they acted in the past and feel foolish but I’m far too cynical to have that be the deciding factor. I help people because I can. It’s taken a lot of training to stop helping everyone that had a sob story.

I am compassionate, but I am also hardened by daily life that doesn’t have time for emotion. Also, I rarely encounter situations where I need to be truly compassionate. I do love seeing the look on someone’s face when I tip them way too much, but I don’t volunteer or anything like that.

• Seen a teen hung up on a barbed wire fence and you got closer you recognized him as the person you seen ripping you off of something outside your home. Would you help him get loose? Yes, after I called the cops.

• You are driving along and see a car disabled because it slid off the road and banged a tree hard enough to bend the axle making the car un-drivable. If you see it was the woman in another office that always cussed you out in the parking lot at work, would you stop and help her? Yes, but I would record it for blackmail material first.

• You are out jogging, cycling, dog walking, etc and you come upon a dazed fallen cyclist with a bloodied face. If you started to help him clean up and once enough blood was from his face you recognize him as the man on the flyers someone posted up around the neighborhood as having molested a girl in his past, even though the details was not posted. Would you stop assisting him or finish what you started? I took an oath, once I started treating him I couldn’t stop. Just like patching up the Taliban that was trying to kill me 10 minutes earlier.

• A new hire came in and you are the decision maker, it is up to you to say yea or nay to the job. You recognize the young woman has an underground porn star who videos had all sorts of kinky sex. Do you hire her if she was qualified, or pass her up for the next person that was just under her in qualifications but with a cleaner past? Given who I work for, I would pass her over for the next qualified person.

1. I’d leave the thief hanging there and call the cops with his location. Karma’s a bitch and so am I.

2. Yes, but I’d cuss her out while I was doing it.

3. I’d punch him in the nuts and walk away. Then I’d go back and kick him in the nuts, and walk away again.

4. I guess it would depend on the job, but if she were truly qualified, then it wouldn’t matter much to me.

I have my genuine moments but I am not a women driven by sentiment and emotion. I am a rational thinking type and do not believe in emotional reasoning. No, I wouldn’t help some jackass that had harmed me. I would help anyone that needed it if I could, but not known idiots. Hey..Karma’s a bitch, let her help your sorry, sleazy ass. lol

Suppose I’m a trained medic.
Scenarios 2 and 3 would require my assistance as I am a professional. No compassion required in order to perform.

Scene 4: If she’s the best qualified I don’t care about sex tapes.

If #1 isn’t bleeding, he can hang there until the cops come.

TEEN/BARBED WIRE
I would call the police. Then I would assess the situation for two things. Is he injured? Is he a threat to me? If he’s injured and a threat to me, I would call for help. If he’s injured and not a threat, I would help him myself. If he’s not injured and a threat to me, I would leave. If he’s not injured and not a threat to me, I’d probably mess with him first and then leave.

WOMAN/CAR
Yes, I would help her.

MAN/BIKE
That’s tough. How do I know if the information on the flier is legit? If I help him, how do I know he won’t go on to molest other girls? Since this is an imaginary scenario, can I put him in my imaginary personal infirmary until I find out the truth?

PORNSTAR/JOB
It depends on the job. And it depends on why she wants the job. Rocket scientist, brain surgeon, astronaut? If she’s qualified, sure. I’d hire her. School teacher or CPS worker? She’d have to demonstrate that she’s in a healthy place—beyond just her credentials.

1.I’d rip him off. Sigh.
2.I’d stop beside her and ask her if she’s been fcuking drinking. Then I’d show her the YouTube video for ICE and politely ask “who’s your ICE biotch?”
3.I barely remember what I did one second ago, I won’t know the face so I have to say I’d help them.
4.Yep she’s hired, what she does on her time is her life who am I to judge anyway?

@Hypocrisy_Central and @LornaLove are like almost avatar twins :) great minds think alike

Just about a month ago I’d say I would ignore all you’ve listed. I used to be very selfish and egoist. But now I honestly and genuinely can say that I am very compassionate and I think the reason why we are alive is not to only focus on ourselves, but to focus on others. So being compassionate is a very necessary part of our beings.

Overall @Hypocrisy_Central you have presented various situations that are not representative of compassion.

Yesterday, I walked down the hall of my hospital behind a pre-teen girl who was holding the hand of a younger boy. I heard: “I don’t know what I’ll do if dad dies today.”

She was being a great sister, if I could have done anything to ease their worries I would have. All I could do was escort them to the kid-lounge where they could be distracted by PS3 and Wii games and all the snack food they might want.

The organization I work for is all about compassion. Not only for the patients, but taking care of their familes also. We’ll block off the end of a hall for a dying person so the family can camp out with no disruptions.
We provide refreshment carts for the family so they don’t have to leave (no charge).

If a family member ends up spending more time than they anticipated and he/she runs out of prescribed medications, we provide those for them at no charge.

Don’t even try to equate your hypothetical situations with genuine compassion. I see it every single day.

I’d help every one of them, but I’d also call the police on the thief (and the molester, if the flyer is a ‘wanted’ flyer).

@Blueroses Don’t even try to equate your hypothetical situations with genuine compassion. I see it every single day. Not to diminish your example of compassion, because more of it should be done. However, compassion, like love, is easy to do when it is someone you care for, or like. Most people can say they love, or at least like a lot, someone who buys them coffee and a pastry everyday they go to work, providing they like coffee and pastry. It is another thing to say you like or love your neighbor who deliberately lets his dog out to poop on your lawn. Because no one here has yet been in situations like that it points to extending compassion to people you might find offensive. Would you have been as compassionate for the boy if he was saying he was bored, why can’t dad die already, he was rich and everyone would be rich the moment he died? I can also point out those who selflessly spend their own money to go out in the evening feeding the homeless, and providing them with socks, cloves, underwear, etc. Because they do that, does that diminish the compassion you do because it doesn’t cost you money? No it doesn’t, they are doing something for people many want to forget exist.