#BTColumn – Compassion and forgiveness

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados TODAY Inc.

by Jade Gibbons

When I was working in education, I gave my sixth form Communication Studies class an assignment. The topic was Misplaced Compassion is an Injustice. The students were to research information in line with Module One syllabus requirements and present their findings to the class in line with Module Three syllabus requirements.

The result was a session in which I was schooled by my students. No two students approached the topic the same, but they all showed how misplacing one’s compassion can result in the creation and/or perpetuation of injustice.

The presentation that stood out the most for me was done by a student named Michael Thompson. Thompson highlighted that failing to adequately punish criminals for their crimes leads to a perpetuation of violence.

He showed how in the absence of discipline and rehabilitation the criminal goes on to commit more and oftentimes worse crimes.

Thompson referenced a case in the United States in which a criminal had been granted clemency because the sentence he received as a teenager was excessive. This criminal went on to commit armed robbery, assault a police officer, rape a child and murder four people. It must be noted that the crimes above have been listed in the order committed.

This criminal, as Thompson put it, “[had been] shown mercy and compassion but withheld it from his victims.” I mention this because there seems to be a troubling apathy in the church when it comes to matters of justice.

The compulsion for compassion seems to override the call for justice. Perhaps we are okay with being lambs living in the midst of wolves having forgotten that our Lord is described as a lion. But the truth is
no one is a lamb. No one is wholly innocent.

No one is wholly harmless. No one is wholly powerless. No one is perfectly capable of not committing wrong. Even if the legislation has not caught up with your crime, it is still a crime. It is just not on the statute books yet and therefore cannot be punished. Yet. We are all wolves, ravenous in our self-interest, self-absorption, and entitlement. The saying goes it is a dog-eat-dog world. Wolves are canines.

The purpose of laws is to reveal to us our innate cannibalistic behaviours and put structures in place to demotivate us from engaging in such practices.

However, most laws can only enforce punitive measures which means you only feel their full power once they have been broken. Simply put, you only understand the full extent of the law after you have committed a crime.

This is where moral authorities come in. Moral authorities are supposed to present incentives for adhering to a specific code. This code is often determined by a faith system.

Within the Christian faith, the code implores adherents to forsake cannibalistic behaviours and emulate Christ. The ability to do such is predicated by a series of gifts, namely forgiveness, salvation, and grace. Because of this Christians are called to forgive which is fine.

But forgiveness and compassion are not the same thing. According to now deceased Holocaust survivor Eva Mozes Kor, “forgiveness is really nothing more than an act of self-healing and self-empowerment… Forgiveness is as personal as chemotherapy.” So, you forgive for yourself, not the other person. Let them go. There is too little room inside your soul to hold on to all that rage and malice.

Compassion, on the other hand, entails pity and concern for others. And pity is a feeling of sorrow and sympathy caused by the sufferings of others. Therefore, the prerequisite for compassion is suffering.

There is a lot of suffering in the world, and everyone suffers in some form. So how do you choose who to be compassionate to? The same way doctors decide who to treat first in a medical emergency.

Last year I wrote on pacifism and said, “when we look back on WWII we can all conclude that Hitler was unjust for the injury he caused to the Jewish people.

We can also conclude that the Allied forces would have been equally unjust if they had failed to protect their citizens and defend their neighbours from injury when they possessed the ability to.”

If you are misplacing your compassion by extending it to the perpetrator before their victims, you are partnering with the perpetrator and perpetuating injustice.

We ought not to allow many to suffer under the guise of being compassionate to one, because then we are in fact being compassionate to none.

Jade Gibbons is an arts and business graduate with a keen interest in social issues and film-making. See https://www.jadegibbons246.com