Passionate About Compassion

"Passionate about Compassion" How many people see someone that desperately needs the helping hands of others, then actually acts upon it? It’s much easier to wish that you could help someone in need, then truly take the necessary action to assist. However, in the two articles, “Manchester Couple to Retire to Ghana, Where They’ll Care for Children” by Adam Sawamura, and “Improbable Family Tie: Iraqi Boy, Former GI” by Carrie Antlfinger, the main characters all display the ultimate form of compassion humanly possible. Compassion is defined from the Webster’s New World Dictionary as, “sorrow for the suffering or trouble of another or others, accompanied by an urge to help.” The Boisverts display compassion by spending their retirement helping
the less fortunate in Ghana, while Captain Scott Southworth does so by saving a young handicapped boy from his unpleasant future in Baghdad. Within the article of “Manchester Couple to Retire to Ghana, Where They’ll Care for Children” Dan and Nancy Boisvert demonstrate compassion by choosing to spend their retirement and own savings helping underprivileged children ranging from newborn to fifteen years of age in the Volta region of Ghana. Both Dan and Nancy display a history of compassion. Dan is a former engineer while also being a part time pastor, and Nancy a nurse. Their past indicates that they both enjoy helping and aiding those around them. The Boisverts say that they “will use retirement savings to pay for half of the building costs and the costs of raising the children. They will rely on donations to pay the rest.” This indicates that both Dan and Nancy truly contain an urge to help these children, not only will they be leaving their friends and family behind at home, but also they will be doing this not for profit, but instead out of the free willingness of their own loving desire to help those in dire need. The Boisverts were motivated to by compassionate by their own personal desire to support underprivileged children. They don’t want to be just another average couple that moves down south, they want to be something more. The Boisverts exclaims, “[they] didn’t want to just go to Florida for the winter in our retirement. We wanted to help people that no one has ever helped,” and “the couple sees their work in Ghana as a calling.” They are not deterred by the difficulty that awaits them. They truly fell that helping take care of the these children and seeing their grateful and smiling faces will be worth more than anything they have paid for or experienced before. Most of the children the Boisverts encountered have lived under harsh conditions; they were either orphans or were rescued from child labor traffickers by the government of Ghana. The children lack little to no exposure to medical treatment, some of the kids have HIV and nearly everybody has malaria. Hopefully these things will be a thing of the past once Dan and Nancy are able to provide a consistent supply of food, living supplies, shelter, clothing, medical attention, and education. These children sadly without the caring and compassionate help provided by Dan and Nancy are doomed to be failed by their government and will most likely suffer due to disease and poor health. However, there is hope that these children can now live healthy and bright futures with the right medical care, nutrition and education provided from the compassionate Boisverts and caring donations they receive. Only time can tell the impact that Dan and Nancy have in Ghana, chances are it’s a positive one, and will inspire others to help their cause. Much like Dan and Nancy, Captain Scott Southworth, of the Army Nation Guard, displays a heartwarming exhibition of compassion. In the article, “Improbable Family Tie: Iraqi Boy, Former GI” Scott Southworth, while deployed to Baghdad encounters a young boy by the name of Ala, who suffers from cerebral palsy. Unlike the rest of Southworth’s platoon he grows attached to Ala. It might be the distance from home and the stress from his thirteen month deployment, but Southworth portrays a protective and fatherly role to Ala. At one point in the article, Ala begins referring to Southworth as, “Baba,” Arabic for daddy.” Meanwhile in Baghdad Southworth wishes to save Ala from his future of living with in a lifeless government ran facility. Southworth’s compassion drives him to endeavor and overcome the oncoming obstacles that would soon fallow in order to adopt Ala, and bring him back home to America. Southworth’s motivation to be compassionate stems from seeing another human being fall victim to their own disability and desertion from their government.
Southworth feels a sense of empowerment to rescue Ala from his best case scenario, “that he would stare at a blank wall for the rest of his life.” The article refers to Southworth’s goals at home to be a district attorney, with the primary goal in mind to be, “tough on criminals who committed injustices against children.” This shows that Southworth had already developed a sense of compassion for children before deploying to Baghdad. Although Iraqi law prohibites from adopting Iraqi children, Southworth’s motivation and compassion drives him to overcome the daunting obstacles that would soon follow, to hopefully one day adopt Ala, and be able to legally call him
son. Southworth’s compassion has affected Ala’s life for all the better.
At the age of nine Ala weighed only fifty five pounds and lived in a crowed orphanage with about twenty kinds with physical or mental disabilities. Once arriving in Wisconsin, Ala’s health greatly improved, he surpassed the amount of times he had seen a doctor in all his time in Iraq while only being in the United States for six months. Ala had now been privileged, thanks to Southworth, to receive physical therapy to help control his head and other muscles. Now only after four years, at the age of thirteen he’s doubled his weight to a hundred and eleven pounds. Southworth says, “we crossed political boundaries. We crossed religious boundaries. There was a massive effort – all on behalf of this little boy who desperately needed people to actually take some action and not just feel sorry for him.” Southworth’s story truly defines the meaning of compassion. He not only felt sorry for, and had an urge to help Ala, but rather he acted on his feelings and did everything with in his power to provide Ala a healthier and safer life than he ever experienced
before.
Sadly our Society has become so desensitized by media and so much information, which it is hard for people to try to promote compassion in their lives. Compassion has to be exercised and experienced, it takes time and dedication. You don’t need to go anywhere or wear anything special to practice compassionate thoughts and actions; all we need to do is become aware of others’ pain and suffering. War, killing, violence and drugs are all part of the world in which we live. All these things affect our daily thoughts and our society as a whole. It’s very difficult to develop compassion when we are constantly distracted by work, bills, and things within the media.
However, after everything that had happen to both the Boisverts and Southworth, not once did they ever complain, they always smiled and placed others before them self’s. They vowed to push through all the daunting challenges they were sure to face for the compassion they processed, to provide better life’s for neither those that were friends nor family, but complete strangers. Thanks to their selfless acts of compassion the children in Ghana will live longer and happier lives, meanwhile Ala will get the proper medical attention he so desperately deserves, and finally have a family he can call his own. With people like Sourhtworth and the Bosvert family, our society is a much better place, hopefully their story’s will inspire others to become involved and help those that are less fortunate around them.