2015 – Most Philosophical 6th Grader in America

Lianna Gomes, Florida.

Violence VS. Compassion:

Which has a greater impact on society, violence or compassion? In order to answer this question it must be taken into perspective, for there are many people in this world who believe it is okay to use violence as a solution to life’s problems. This in fact, is not true, and I will show you exactly what I mean.

Violence is extremely toxic, and it eats away at anything it comes in contact with. It has the power to destroy, but only if we, as humans give it that power. A quote from the book “The Fault In Our Stars”, reads “You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but don’t give it the power to do its killing.” Violence is only harmful if we put the word into action and let it be helpful. It is our decision, whatever we do with words is our choice, but which word in action is truly better? That is the real question.

Compassion is about being sympathetic to another person’s sufferings or misfortunes. Compassion opens up our eyes to things we could never see before with violence. Violence blinds us, it blinds our entire world from the most beautiful things in life. If each one of us could just be a little kinder every day, and open up our hearts just a little wider, we would be able to fill our world with hope, and light up all the places violence continues to darken.

Violence doesn’t start out as violence. It develops over time though hurt and pain people feel from being disappointed or betrayed by the people closest to them. As humans, we automatically put up barriers when we feel the need to protect ourselves from the things that hurt us the most. We understand that our hearts can’t take any more pain, so we only allow situations where we are safe from the evil in the outside world. In doing so, we retaliate, and lash out others, because by acting in a violent manner, we keep out defenses up and we keep people from getting close to us.

Compassion heals and it repairs the damage done by violence. A lot of us are lost and don’t know where we are going, but it’s impossible to know who is in the same situation as you are without communicating. When someone shows compassion, it reassures us we are all human, and we all make mistakes. We want everyone to live up to our expectations, but we would never want people to expect so much from us in return. This universe becomes an easier place to live when we can accept each other’s differences. Compassion is understanding and understanding others is the key to a happier life. I don’t know about you, but if there is a way to make the universe a better place, I would take that chance. After all, none of us are perfect, none of us are flawless. If we take our masks off, underneath is just a person trying to fit into this crazy world. When we take away the violence we can not only be more productive, but we can be real people, the kind of people God intended for us to be.

To sum up, in my opinion, compassion is always the way to go. It may be hard to forgive sometimes, but remember compassion makes it easier. We all make mistakes, and when we do we are angry at the person and it leads to violence. So break the chain before it even begins. Don’t be angry with someone if they slip up, remind yourself, they are only human.

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