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Brittany Dickson

Professor Tamera Davis

English Comp II

20 April 2020

Love and Compassion

Showing love and compassion throughout my life has drastically changed my perspective

on day to day life. Most people tell me that showing too much love and compassion to others can

come back and bite me in the butt one day, but I still have yet to see that. Throughout my 23

years of life I have only seen the positives of caring for others along with a sense of happiness

within myself. Choosing to show love and compassion is a choice, but I also believe it’s a

perspective that everyone needs to have.

Ever since I was little, I wanted to become a nurse because you have the ability as a nurse

to make someone’s horrible day a great day – for the most part. I’ve always wanted to be able to

care and nurture those that were ill, whether that be physically, mentally, or emotionally.

Showing love and compassion can drastically change a person’s day. I have seen it with my own

two eyes in many different aspects of life. Something as little as a smile to someone who has a

sad look on their face could change their day. We never know what others are going through, so

why not show love whenever we can. With a simple smile, you could be the reason someone

chooses to live another day on this earth.

In the society we live in today, it seems that the suicide rates just keep climbing each and

every day which breaks my heart because no one should ever feel that they don’t belong on this

earth anymore. Being prior military working in the medical field I saw the suicide numbers rise
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daily. I know there is a fix to it, and that is love and compassion. In the military, as much as they

say they take care of their people, they don’t. They don’t think about the whole person, they just

look at your physically and say were all good, but they truly don’t know. We have a mission to

complete which is priority, and if there is time for their people later then that will come second.

If leadership would just focus a little more on love and compassion for their people, those suicide

rates would drop dramatically.

I have experienced what a simple act of love and compassion has done for a person

multiple times, but there’s one that stands out to me the most. While active duty, there was a

female airman who was going to be alone when having her first child. Her husband was being

deployed, and she had no family to support her, not only physically but emotionally. They didn’t

agree that she was pregnant so she would have no one when he left for deployment. I didn’t

know her very well, but well enough to reach out and see how she was doing every so often.

Once she got close to delivery and I knew her husband had left, I started to reach out to

her more often to make sure she was prepared and to check to see if she needed any help. As a

mother, I couldn’t imagine being in her shoes, so took it upon myself to show her the love and

compassion she needed in a stressful time. I didn’t have to do what I was doing, but because I do

my best to put myself in others shoes often I made the choice of love and compassion because I

knew that is what I would need.

Once the baby was born, I continued to follow up with her at this point it was daily, as

she was taking care of a newborn alone, with no guidance or family. I had a family of my own,

but I knew she needed me more than my family some days. I would bring her lunch on my lunch

break, I would stay for dinner some nights so she wasn’t alone, and I would even watch her baby

so she could get true sleep. I just wanted her to know I cared, and although I didn’t know her
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very well in the beginning, we grew very close throughout the process. All it took was some love

and compassion to make her feel better.

When showing love and compassion, I have found that people open up to me and show a

side of themselves that they don’t show everyone. They open up about things that are bothering

them, things they are struggling with, and even things they are succeeding with that they haven’t

told anyone else because no one showed that compassion. This to me is the best part about being

compassionate and showing love to others. When you show love and compassion people start to

get a sense of encouragement, and self-worth and you see the transformation start to happen right

in front of your face. Lastly, you earn trust from others, which in return can make you feel

worthy as well, so it’s a win-win situation almost every time.

Love and compassion doesn’t have to be that involved all the time. It can be a simple

smile, asking someone if their okay, sending someone flowers, or even getting someone their

favorite drink from Starbucks. It doesn’t take a lot to change someone’s mood. So often people

get caught up in the thought of “will this benefit me in the end” instead of putting themselves in

the other persons shoes and being selfless for a few minutes. Showing love and compassion can

benefit others, but it can also benefit you believe it or not.