Courageous Compassion

By Nashay Lowe

This poem was written by Nashay Lowe, a participant in the 2021 Summer Peacebuilding Program organized by the Center for Conflict Studies. Nashay wrote this poem after attending a session on Compassionate Courage. Her poem highlights the hard and challenging work on being both compassionate and courageous. Nashay is Ph.D. student in International Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University

As I dare to wipe the tears away from your eyes
I can’t help but notice no ones around to help wipe away mine
I stand tall for those who slouch
I step back for you to shine
I sit in the way of harm
I sacrifice minutes of time
I’m courageously vulnerable
And cowardly reserved
I’m silently outrageous
And overly concerned
My heart is open
But my mind is cautious
My resilience is strong
And my imperfections are flawless
My spirit is heavy
And my optimism is jaded
But my stubbornness pushes me forward
To sophrosyne awaited

The act of compassion seems simple enough: showing concern for the well-being of others. Like most things, practice proves to be more challenging. Showing kindness to others when we don’t know how to show the same kindness to ourselves, and having enough inner-compassion to compensate for the lack of reciprocity in some cases, presents just a couple of the challenges. Compassion is not a bar tab to keep track of, but it is also not an empty gesture to be taken for granted; and you can’t fuel the tanks of others when you are running on empty. Being able to practice compassion without expectation of anything in return is at the heart of true kindness; this takes strength and humility at sometimes godly levels. This is what makes compassion courageous: when you dare to love and be true to yourself deeply enough that the bounds of your empathy become limitless, and knowing/understanding that you won’t always receive the same amount of grace that you give out…yet you give it anyway.