This month for our inaugural posts for The Voice Project, our theme was “Compassion.”

Why compassion? Well, first, why not compassion? 🙂 Compassion is thoughtful and reflective. Compassion is unifying. Compassion is what makes life worth living. Compassion is key to humans living enriching lives! Second, let’s start with a definition.

Merriam-Webster (2023) defines compassion as “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.”

So what exactly does that mean? In a nutshell, it means RECOGNIZING that someone is suffering and taking ACTION to help them. Compassion differs from empathy in that empathy lacks the action mode; you can relate to another person’s pain but you don’t do anything to alleviate that pain.

We are excited to share the stories that were shared with us this month. You will see the beautiful action that each of the writers put into play when they put pen to paper. We hope you will read all of the stories and share your thoughts on them and maybe, they will inspire you to write your own stories on compassion!

Also, our next topic, is “Inspiration.” Submissions are due by August 1, 2023. We hope you will consider submitting your work.

Source:

“Compassion Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, 2023, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compassion. Accessed 23 May 2023.