Originally Posted by Joe Minton
Compassion is an emotion. It is individual and does not require teaching to feel nor to act upon that feeling. In my sixth year I witnessed an act of cruelty upon a beautiful Oriole: the bird, after having its feet shot off and falling to the ground, screamed as loudly and energetically as is could -- I felt that creature's pain and despair. (Don't even attempt to tell me that other creatures do not feel pain and despair!) --- I became, at that moment, a Humanist.
No preacher, no 'revealed' text or other superstition, can replace, enhance or build upon what I learned from that beautiful and condemned creature. My life has been guided, to some significant extent, by that bird.
Nothing I have read, not the Bible, not the Torah, not the Qur'an, not the writings of Thomas Aquinas, Albert Sweitzer or the many other religious (mostly Christian) authors I have bothered with have been more eloquent than that ancient and fellow animal.
When misguided, ill informed, ignorant or just plain stupid people choose to argue over the occupants of the head of a pin -- I am reminded of the Oriole and its plea.
Perhaps Jesus's dying cry was like the Oriole's -- I don't know but I like to think so. I completely believe that we should all be sympathetic to the essential goodness of being alive and sharing this wonderful place in the hostile-to-life universe, no matter how essentially cruel and brutal life is.
As to when we became compassionate: pre-historic graves have contained flowers along with the carefully-arranged remains of people. Anyone who has children knows that 'revealed truth' is not necessary to teach them to feel the joy or plight of others. Maimonides exists today because we learned to write; his teachings, in the long period before writing were, I am sure, still taught. We did not require Jesus, Mohammad or Jerry Falwell to 'set us straight.'
Go read some books. Go witness the pain of others. Act upon both.
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