THE DAY OF COMPASSION

Karachi, Pakistan
 How did you define compassion?

Compassion is willingness to help other who are in need. To me compassion is one of the most
important aspect a person should possess. It not only helps people to understand the emotions
of each other but also helps people to understand that one might need them during his/her
suffering. Moreover, being compassionate also helps you to become a better person and
provides inner peace.

 What acts of compassion did you carry out, and what effect did they have?

For this assignment of Day of Compassion, I did many different things to help the people in my
surrounding. As we all are suffering from the global pandemic and have been stuck in
quarantine for more than 1-2 months, I was unable to help them all in person. But I try to carry
out this assignment in all possible ways I could.

It is Ramadan here, and during this month every other Muslim try to as compassionate as they
could because Allah likes people who are compassionate. It was a normal day going,
everything was same as usual. My sister-in-law was preparing meal for the Iftaar, but suddenly
my niece (who is just 6 months old) started crying loudly as she was hungry. It was getting late
for Iftaar, my sister-in-law couldn’t leave everything in the middle, so I asked my sister-in-law to
feed my niece and I will take care of everything here. I prepared the remaining meal. After few
minutes, I heard my father and brothers discussing how our neighbor is stuck alone in here
because of the COVID-19 situation. The next thing I did was to make a plate of meal for him
and asked my brother to deliver that to him as it might be difficult for him to manage his meals. I
also asked my father to make sure that he gets his Iftaar meal every day from here. I am sure,
he must have felt good and a little relieved after getting the meal. After Iftaar, everything went
on the same way, but the only difference was the way I was feeling about myself. I remember
seeing my sister-in-law’s relieved face when I told her that I will handle everything. I remember
listening JazakAllah from my neighbor in a joyful manner. I know these acts seem to be so
small but they have a great impact on an individual. I myself felt so happy and relaxing while
doing these small acts of compassion.

 If your behavior was different than normal, which person did you like more: the "Day of
Compassion you" or the "normal you"? If you preferred the "Day of Compassion you,"
what are the psychological factors that prevent this "you" from coming out?

I myself observed that my today’s behavior seemed to be a little different than normal. I felt
more satisfied and had a sense of altruism. I must say that I like my “Day of Compassion Me”
more than I like my “normal me” because it was my better version which helps me figure out
that “All humans deserve to be treated with love, care and respect.”

Although, throughout my whole life, I always try my best to help those in need, but many times
due to many factors, it become impossible for me to carry out the acts of compassion. There
are some psychological factors also that prevents this “me” from coming out. Some of them
are:
  My introvert attitude: I usually try to avoid people especially unknowns due to which I
never saw the more people who are in need.
 Social exclusion: I fear that people will make fun of me if I help someone. They will think
that I don’t belong to them.
 I think that I am not mature enough to help people. I feel like I might end up messing
things.
 The myth that one can’t make a big difference.

For sure, from now onwards, I will try to overcome these psychological factors, and try to be
more compassionate towards others.

 What are the psychological costs and benefits of behaving compassionately? In your
view, do the benefits outweigh the costs?

There are many psychological costs and benefits of behaving compassionately. One benefit is
the enhanced self-worth. When we help someone, their small gesture of thankyou makes us
feel that we are valued by others. Moreover, it also help people to have an enhanced self-
efficacy, that is, they think that they are competent and capable and have acted in an effective
manner. People who act compassionately also have the ability to put themselves into someone
else’s shoes (perspective taking), which helps people understand others better. People also hav
a sense of altruism while helping others. In my view the benefits do outweigh the costs because
nothing is more worthy that self-enhancement and inner peace.

 How did others respond to your compassion? Do you think they noticed a difference in
your behavior? What attributions did people make for your behavior, and why?

As already mentioned above that in my daily life I try to be compassionate which is why others
didn’t see much difference in my behavior. However, they responded very warmly and in a
happy and joyful manner which made me feel thinking good about myself. When I helped my
sister-in-law, later she thanked me and told me that I care for her a lot. She also asked me to
continue caring and helping others in the same way.

 If you wanted to encourage others to behave as you did during the Day of Compassion,
what psychological techniques would you use? How can social psychology be used to
foster a more compassionate society?

For fostering a more compassionate society, I would suggest every individual should help
others and asked those individual to help those who are in need, so that we can form a chain of
compassion. We can also ask people to help others in order to relieve their emotional
discomfort (the negative-state relief model).

 If you were to predict your behavior one month from now, do you think it will be changed
as a result of participating in the Day of Compassion? If so, how? If not, why not?

I think that the Day of Compassion helped me to find a better person in me. I, for sure, try to
change my behavior in a good and positive way, so I predict that a month from now I would be
more compassionate than I am today. I will make sure that whosoever I see in need, I will help
them without having a second thought.