http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/h/hd/hdabed/1176741_homeless.jpg

The emotion that qualifies you as a compassionate person will naturally strive to find outlets in your actions. To me, compassion can be defined as a strong feeling of sympathy or empathy that relentlessly seeks to express itself in action toward an unfortunate person or animal (although I believe friends who tell me they have compassion for the forest). The urge to help is an undeniable component of compassion, in my opinion. If that urge to help is continually squelched or ignored, and pushed back to wherever it comes from, it can weaken, and you can become hardened; immune to your natural desire to help someone who is struggling.

Although it may be something small like a prayer, (and I believe prayer can be anything but small), true compassion will at times require more, in terms of a financial contribution or a physical activity. It may mean an anonymous donation to the unemployed family down the street, or visiting a dying loved one (or their family). It is not unusual for compassion to require a sacrifice from those who wish to retain their compassionate spirit. It may be that you visit the lonely, plant a vegetable garden for a neighbor, or simply do your best to encourage the discouraged. Strangely enough, compassion's compulsion to help, instead of being satiated by these acts of kindness, is only made stronger. Your need to express compassion does not go away and leave you self-satisfied, convinced that you have done your part. Instead, it urges you on to do more, which is as it should be. When we lose our compassion and the actions it inspires, we lose a part of our humanity that we can ill afford to be without.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfZqXLnBYb4