Classroom Presentation 11

Hi guys, I’m XX and today I’m going to give a presentation about the topic of ‘A time you had compassion from or to others’.

And today we are going to talk about three questions, the first one is ‘what is compassion’. The second one is ‘why does compassion take an important role in people’s life’. The third one is ‘how can one strengthen compassion’.

So, what is compassion? Compassion can be seen as a mental state or an orientation towards one’s, meaning ourselves or others suffering and some uncomfortable moments, for example, I used to read news every morning when I am having breakfasts. When I see there was a terrible flood happened in Malaysia. Many people were injured and tons of them were displaced because of it. Seeing the pictures of people there trying to survive and all the damaged houses made me heart broken. I felt a sense of sadness and wanted to help them. So this kind of state of mind can be called as “compassion”. So during this process, there are four components, namely awareness, feeling, wish and take action. And I will explain them one by one. From the cognitive sense of, from the cognitive sense, bringing attention or awareness to recognizing that there is suffering. And then from the affective sense, feeling emotionally moved by that suffering. From intentional sense, wishing there to be relief from that suffering. And the last one from the motivative sense, a readiness to take action to relieve that suffering.

So now we are going to talk about the second question, why does compassion take an important role in people’s life? We can answer this question from two levels, first from the individual level and the second from the level of society and community.

Compassion is important because it can promote meaningful connections, facilitate problem-solving, and improve health and wellbeing. Compassion, its core element, is about putting aside judgment and refusing to turn away from some challenging situations. It’s about understanding the struggles of another person and wanting to help. For instance, one of my friends lost her cat unfortunately and all in a sudden a few weeks ago. I have met her cat before and it is a very cute and beautiful Siamese cat. Naturally, she felt very sad about the situation and she blamed herself for not being able to discover her cat’s abnormal health condition and took it to the vet in time. She always cried in the middle of the night because of missing her cat and she would talk with me the day after. I usually listen to her quietly and show her a willingness to be with her whenever she needs me and wants to talk about the whole situation. Sometimes, she rejects to say anything, instead she just cries all the time. I will gently give her some cuddles accordingly and accompany her. By showing the compassion, we become more close, although I cannot take her cat’s life back for sure, it’s a relief for her to know that there will always be someone who is out there and willing to help. Even all I do is just sit and listen.

In a more compassionate community, the struggling will get treatment and resources from all the accesses. People who are experiencing suffering, like my friends, or some mental issues or crisis will receive care and some ongoing support from both society and community. With total compassion and understanding of everyone, the community would thrive, thus create a healthier environment for everyone in return.

So now we know that compassion is very important for both individuals and society, now the question turns to how can one strength compassion. We can start from do something small, like respecting and appreciating differences. And then we can move on some challenge, we can move on next stage to challenge prejudices. We may have many prejudices due to cultural differences, historical reasons, and, and stereotypes and so on, even some that we aren’t aware we have. So it is very important to let go of prejudices to be more compassionate. Last but not least, take action is always important to change oneself, it is also an essential part in strengthening compassion.

This is the end of my presentation, thanks for your listening.