WZM Award for Compassion, Jizo Peace Center, Ruth Ratna Handy

One day as I was walking through the swap-meet, I noticed this man sitting in a wheel chair with a bucket of pens sitting on his lap all alone. He had a sign on the bucket that said, “Pens for $1”. He was unable to walk and had a huge tumor in his mouth so he was also unable to speak all he could do was mumble. Every time someone passed by he would try to say something but the people would just pass by him like if he wasn’t even there. I stopped right in front of him as he was trying to tell me something. I knew he was trying to ask me if I wanted to buy a pen because he kept looking down to the bucket of pens while trying to speak. I ran to my mother and asked her for five dollars. She didn’t want to give me the money so I had to beg her and get on my knees until she finally gave me the money. I ran back to him and gave him the five dollars. I didn’t take any pens I just gave him the money. I said, “Have a nice day sir”, and I walked away. He was mumbling something and he tried to smile. I know he was trying to say thank you. It was shown in his reaction.

That night as I was trying to go to sleep I just had a million thoughts run through my mind. I couldn’t help but to feel compassion for him. I thought, how can someone leave this man all alone to sell pens? How can people just pass by and not even acknowledge this man? Do they not have any compassion towards others? It just made me realize that so many people just don’t care about others and that’s where we have to make a difference and help people in need. We need to put ourselves in their positions. If we were in that position we would want to be helped even in the smallest ways. Ever since my experience with that man I changed. If I see homeless person asking for money, I can’t help but to feel compassion so I give them whatever is in my pocket. That little gesture of compassion makes a difference and everyone needs to have compassion and make this world a better place. Compassion is an important feeling one must have towards others. Everyone is human and goes through difficult times. It is important to always think about others and help them in their time of need as you would like others to help you in your time of need. If there is no compassion in people then this world is just going to get worse. We need to be kind-hearted and helpful towards each other. We need to learn to have compassion towards one another. Have love towards each other and do anything it takes to help one another. Compassion is the essence of life