Loss of Compassion

Many will agree that compassion is a social skill. It is described in the dictionary as the ability to sympathize with other’s distress with the wish to help alleviate it. This definition is usually confused with empathy (the ability to feel the emotions of others) and sympathy (the ability to recognize someone’s emotions and understand why they feel the way they do). Compassion, however, goes much deeper than empathy and sympathy, compassion involves action, or the desire to act to help someone in need. This trait has been seen less and less over time, especially with the rise of social media.

A story showing this loss of compassion, “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix Arizona” by Sherman Alexie shows the dynamic of two former childhood friends, Victor and Thomas as they travel from their home, Spokane Indian Reservation, to Phoenix Arizona to retrieve the remains and assets of Victor’s father. From the start of the story, it is evident that the people in the reservation believe Thomas is weird due to the stories he tells, with it later being revealed he was orphaned at birth and believes he only has his stories. Throughout the reading we learn that Victor and Thomas used to be close childhood friends, who would play and get into trouble with each other. However, as the story progresses, we learn that overtime the children grow to dislike Thomas, with them starting to pick on him after he jumped off the roof of the school to “fly”. Eventually we learn that even Victor grew to dislike Thomas for his story telling and beat Thomas up while drunk when they were teenagers. Throughout their journey, Victor remembers these incidents and feels regret for how he treated Thomas, he even apologized to him about the fight, showing sympathy for Thomas due to his actions. However, once they returned to the Reservation, Victor and Thomas acted as if nothing changed, with Thomas asking Victor for one favor, to listen to him tell a story sometime. This story, while showing eventual sympathy that comes from Victor, shows no compassion for Thomas.

This loss of compassion is also shown in Pixar’s popular movie “Meet the Robinsons”. In this movie orphaned inventor Lewis is visited by a boy named Wilbur from the future. This boy then tells Lewis he is a secret agent who needs Lewis’ help. The two boys then travel to the future where Lewis gets to know Wilbur's family and finds a sense of community. However, there is a villain in this movie referred to as “Bowler Hat Guy”. This villain is an older man in the future who is constantly trying to steal Lewis’ invention from the past and have it patented as his own to ultimately destroy Lewis’ future.  Later on, in the movie a shocking twist occurs when it is revealed that Bowler Hat Guy is actually the adult version of Lewis’ roommate from the orphanage Michael Yagoobian, or Goob. Through flashbacks it is then disclosed that Lewis had pulled multiple all-nighters while he was preparing an invention for a science fair, this resulted in Goob not being able to get any sleep. This resulted in Goob falling asleep at his 

baseball game whilst the outfield causing him to miss the game winning catch, loosing his team the championship. Because of the loss his teammates then beat Goob up causing him to have a deep resentment for Lewis that followed him into adulthood and was the reason he was never adopted. This movie shows a lack of compassion for Goob in both the actions of Lewis and the baseball team. With Lewis keeping him up all night without thinking about Goob’s sleep and with the baseball team attacking him for a mistake any of them could have made.

In both stories, a lack of compassion is evident for both Goob and Thomas' situations. However, despite the similarities these two victims have, the way they reacted to their situations were vastly different. Thomas, despite the way Victor had treated them as kids, still showed compassion to Victor when his father had died and he needed help with money. Goob, on the other hand, allowed his situation to consume him and slowly turned him into a hateful person determined to ruin the person who had wronged him. These different reactions are both seen in real life scenarios especially in children. There is a popular phrase saying "hurt people, hurt people" which is a great way to describe Goob, he was bullied and hurt, therefore he became the bully so he could scare others into submission, therefore hurting them before they had the chance to hurt him. Thomas however, understood that Victor treated him poorly because he wanted to be popular and look cool. Knowing this, Thomas never reacted to when Victor beat him up and even helped him out as an adult when no one else would, breaking the cycle of bullying. 

This story and movie resonate with me because I have been treated poorly by people close to me like Thomas and Goob, and I have had reactions like both had. When I was younger, I would react closer to Goob, letting the hurt marinate inside until I snapped and tried to hurt those people like they hurt me. However, as I have grown, I have started to react more like Thomas to these scenarios. I've learned that having the last word won't make me hurt any less and bringing someone else down will not lift me back up. Currently I will not react to try and hurt others, however I am still working on letting things go from the past. No one is perfect and it can be easy to make mistakes, however you should always show someone compassion by being there for them and trying to make their situation better, despite how they treated you in the past. 

Citations

  • Alexie, Sherman. “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona.” Literature: A World of Writing: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays, edited by David L. Pike and Ana M. Acosta, 2nd ed., Pearson, 2014, pp. 525–531
  • Meet the Robinsons. Directed by Stephen Anderson, Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2007. 

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