I am not an overly compassionate person. I do feel sympathy when someone is hurt provided they were not the cause, but as far as the person that caused the misfortune/hurt, I am not sympathetic.
You may wonder why, as a Christian aren’t I supposed to love my neighbor as I would love myself? That is true, but I know if I truly hurt someone that did not deserve it, I would feel pretty bad.
Where I live there have been numerous car accidents on the highway recently. In fact a young lady was killed in one of them and in some people were seriously injured. I have the fact that the word accident is used. This implies that the person or persons who caused the incident had no control. In everyone of the cases, the person or persons were negligent. I hope you all realize that there is a difference between an accident and negligence.
I want fines to go through the roof for people who use their phones while driving, $5,000, for people who are so distracted they cause accidents, $10,000, going 10 miles over the speed limit, $1,000, driving recklessly, $25,000, and killing someone while driving, $250,000 and 15 years in prison. People will only start obeying the traffic laws and being more conscientious about their actions when the fines become so outrageous that it physically hurts their wallets. None of this is covered by insurance by the way. I who also pay insurance should not have to help pay for your mistakes so my rates go up because your were negligent. Insurance should only cover when it was determined that the vehicle incident was truly an accident.
This is some time back, about a year or so, but I was at the stop light and there was a car next to me in the left lane. The left lane is required to turn left. This person decided to go straight and I blew my horn. Well they blew their horn so I stopped and got out. I was pissed. Here you are breaking the law and you are blowing your horn at me. After an exchange of words, the lady says it was a mistake. I am sorry that is not a mistake, that is downright disobeying the traffic law or in other words it was negligence, not an accident.
Did anything happen? No, no cars were damaged, but that is not the point. People think they do not have to be held accountable for their actions, but they do. I for one am so sick and tired of all these people who think they can do what they want and then later call it a mistake or what have you so they can not take responsibility. Lets call it what it really is, negligence and you did not care what happened as a result of your action.
I think of the man that grabbed Taylor Swift. He is upset because he got reported and fired, and now wants to blame everyone else for what he did. Dude look at the photo, your hand is on or very close to her butt and she is pulling away from you like do not do that. Do I have compassion for him? Absolutely not, but I am sorry this happened to Taylor Swift. However, I do expect this person to be a man and take responsibility for what he did. Just apologize and be done with it, in other words throw your pride out the window and do what is right.
I will say that as Christians, we are supposed to follow the Great Commandment
Matthew 22:34-40New International Version (NIV)
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
This means that no matter what I should love my neighbor, and this is not my physical neighbor, but anyone that I may come across, as I love myself. Can you love someone without having compassion for them? I think so. I do not have to have sympathy for someone that just hit me with their car, but I can still love them. My form of love may just be more harsh than another persons.
Compassion can be one of those tricky things in my opinion. If you are really struggling with demonstrating compassion, then ask God for help. Spend time with Him in prayer and reading the Bible. If each of us would strive to be more like Christ, this world would be so much better. I urge you to read how Christ interacted with people. You will be amazed.