In today’s times where the world is tossed on its head right as the dust begins to settle after the last tumultuous incident, there is one lesson, one feeling, that I believe we need to be mindful of.

This is compassion.

Sure, you may be rolling your eyes as you read this because perhaps you have heard this reminder before. However, I think it is a reminder that needs to be brought up again. We must make the choice to bring it up over, and over, and over again until we can live in a world that is not riddled with fear as it braces for what seems to be the next inevitable crime caused by an unwillingness to understand the hardships and values of others.

Compassion is not rocket science. I know this because I was fortunate to have a teacher who saw the importance of teaching six, seven, and eight-year-olds in first and second grade how to show respect and compassion for one another. She taught us that we may not like every person in our class, but we could at least have the common decency to acknowledge them and that their feelings, thoughts, actions, and opinions were valid.

This teacher who is now a role model for me planted the seed within me and the rest of my classmates to be compassionate. That seed rooted itself within me when I was seven and eight, but didn’t begin to sprout and flourish until the past couple of years when my eyes have fully been able to see the amount of injustice in the world.

There have been several occasions when I have been ranting to my mom about how baffled I was by someone else’s inconsiderate behavior where she responded by saying that the feelings I was having were caused by the compassion Mrs. Wynhoff had planted within me.

For me, I just thought I was upset and angry, but those feelings came from a place of compassion for others. In my mind, it was just common sense that you should be sympathetic to someone else’s pain or frustrations.

Had I not received had these seeds for compassion planted when I had, I can truly say that I do not know who I would be today. I strongly believe that the lessons I received from Mrs. Wynhoff gave me the positive outlook I have on life and that I try to pass on when someone comes to me seeking advice, they may not always appreciate my optimistic, sincere, compassionate, glass half full view on life, but I know how to give them nothing else.

So, I ask you to consider teaching a younger person in your life about compassion. Plant the seed in them now to be a compassionate person later in life when their sympathetic understanding will count for something.

By cultivating this rudimentary value in future generations now, we may ease the burden on society later and who knows, some hearts could soften in the process.

And thank you to the teacher who passed these lessons onto me, and is having an impact on my life over a decade later and will continue to have an impact on me for the rest of my life.