July 08, 2013

Weighing Compassion

Throughout the day on the 4th of July the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) ran a huge television ad campaign. Videos of abused dogs and cats were meant to pull at the heart strings and the plea for donations was both passionate and urgent. 

For me the placement of the ASPCA ads was misguided because they were interspersed with television programming featuring patriots, wounded warriors, and those who suffered the cruelty of war. Veterans, who lost arms and legs, literally gave up their freedom of mobility for their fellow Americans. Groups supporting these disabled veterans also voiced an urgent need for financial aid and adaptive housing.

Certainly we can have concern for the animal kingdom, but one thing that sets us apart from animals…“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Eph 4:32 NIV)

1 comment:

Steve Corey said...

Gail;

-----After this, I may have to advertise for friends. That either the ASPCA or the DAV or any other care giving group advertises their cause is inappropriate. That we end more than a million human lives a year while yet in the womb verifies our lack of compassion. If our minds naturally went where our eyes can not, if our hearts felt what others experience, advertisements would be unnecessary.
-----But they don’t. Advertisements are necessary. But the ASPCA and the DAV and every other care giving group inappropriately advertises their own narrow cause. They know the suffering they seek to diminish will not even break into the awareness of this unimaginative, non-empathetic people unless they advertise. So they pitch every penny of their advertising budget at pictures and illustrations and metaphors of the suffering their cause puts into the public crosshairs. And that is the inappropriateness of their advertising.
-----People need to open their eyes to the fact that every living thing around them feels as deeply as they themselves do. We are flooded with messages of pampering and attending to the self from its slightest whim to its most demanding need. Life is now portrayed as a one time shot, so a person must pour himself into it completely; go for the gusto! It is no wonder there’s so little imagination and empathy paid to others. If ASPCA, DAV, and all the rest of the compassion organizations really wanted to do this world some good, they would organize part their efforts around a portion of their joint advertising funds and craft some unified messages toward the simple but important human activities of just imaginatively thinking about other folks with some compassion at heart. For where there are no feelings, there are no funds.

Love you all,
Steve Corey