1000Speak – I Am Raising a Compassionate Child

June 27, 2015 Off By Lisa

I’m not sure how it happened.

Somehow, though, I find myself the parent of a child with a compassionate heart.

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This little girl cares about the environment. She cares about people and animals. She wonders why and how people can be cruel to one another, whether it’s on a school playground or the world stage. It is unfathomable to her that anyone would abuse or abandon a pet.

This little girl cries when we pass the homeless man who wanders the streets on our route home from school. She drains her piggy bank to send money to places that will help him and others like him. She spends her money on gifts that will make the people around her happy. She asks for donations to a local shelter instead of birthday gifts for herself.

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When she says her prayers at night, this little girl asks God to help heal the hurts she sees in the world around her. She has asked to spend her time doing volunteer work this summer.

There are many things she does not understand and, in a perfect world, she would never need to. But the world is not a perfect place. That’s not negativity; that’s reality. And when those imperfections meet her awareness and she asks, I have to comfort, to explain, and to teach.

In the end, it is she who teaches me. She is the one who makes me examine my own conscience and check my own behavior. She makes me think about whether the things I say or do or think are ones I would want her to emulate.

I often think she is far wiser and far more compassionate that I am.

And yet somehow, against all odds, I am raising a compassionate child.

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11407036_10205235905951374_6060988822294148133_nThis month, 1000 Voices Speak for Compassion continues to work toward a better world with a particular focus on the topic of COMPASSION.

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