Definition Essay 2 People who are compassionate are always often viewed as being caring. This is because their behavior is humane. Those that possess this trait can always be trusted because they care about the wellbeing of others. How can one define the term “compassion”? According to the TheFreeDictionary.com, the word “compassion” can be defined as “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for someone by misfortune, accompanied by a desire to alleviate the suffering.” Bravery, being merciful and generous is three important characteristics of compassion. One defining characteristic of compassion is bravery. Bravery is an important facet of compassion because those who are brave will take the initiative step to help those that are in need. For example in “Androcles and The Lion,” Androcles sees a lion lying down in excruciating pain, instead of fleeing Androcles took it upon himself to help ease the lion’s torment. Androcles knows that the lion is an apex predator who feeds on his prey, for him not to flee and help the lion was an act of valor. Another example can be found in “Little Red Ridding Hood.” In this folktale, the huntsman was on the lookout for wolves with insidious agendas. He vigilantly patrols the woods for these treacherous criminals. One day while striding by he heard the old woman making an eerie snore, which led the huntsman to further investigate. Upon doing so he found a wolf carelessly sleeping on the old woman’s bed and immediately realizes that the wolf devoured her. He fearlessly dissected the wolf to see if he can save the old lady but in fact found 2 terrified survivors still intact and doing well. A second essential characteristic of compassion is being merciful. The desire to pity those that does not deserve to suffer. For example, both the lion in “Androcles and The Lion” and the fisherman in “The Fisherman and His Wife” are both merciful because they both were fond of the characters. They don’t think of letting them get harmed. In “Androcles and The Lion,” when the emperor captured them both and Androcles was sentence to the arena for the lion to dispose of the lion didn’t: He decided that he
Alvarez 2 wasn’t going to harm Androcles because he considered him a friend, so instead of devouring him he licked his hand. In the story of “The Fisherman and His Wife,” the fisherman came across a flounder while fishing. The founder spoke to him, disclosed that he in fact was an enchanted flounder and pleaded for him to set him free. Instead of bringing the flounder home to his wife he kindly let the flounder go. A third common characteristic of compassion is being generous: The temporary benefit of pleasing a person. The long-term advantage of possessing this quality is that people could rely on a person that is selfless. For instance, both characters in the stories “Mercury and the Woodman”