Is compassion natural?

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 4, 23 June 1987, Page 12

Is compassion natural?

Let me tell you this old Indian Tale because I think it expresses very beautifully what it means to be compassionate and how compassion is really a part of being fully natural and human. Once there was a very old man who used to meditate early every moming under a large tree on the bank of the Ganges River in India. One

moming having finished his meditation, the old man opened his eyes and saw a scorpion floating hopelessly in the strong current of the river. As the scorpion was .pulled closer to the tree, it got caught in the long tree roots that stretched out far into the river. The scorpion struggled frantically to free itself but got more and more entangled in the complex network of the tree roots. When the old man saw this, he immediately stretched himself out over

the river to try and rescue the drowning scorpion. But as soon as he touched it the animal jerked back and stung him relentlessly. Instinctively, the man withdrew his hand, but then, having regained his balance, he once again stretched out his hand to try and save the agonized scorpion. But every time the old man came within reach, the scorpion stung him so badly with his poisionous tail that his hand became swollen and bloody and his face distorted in pain. At that moment, a passer-by saw the old man stretched out over the river struggling with the scorpion and shouted "Hey, stupid old man. What'S wrong with you? Only a fool risks his life for the sake of an ugly, useless creature. Don't you know that you could be killed trying to save that ungrateful and spiteful animal?" Slowly the old man turned his head, and looking calmly into the stranger's eyes, he said "Friend, because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting, why should I give up my own nature to save and to be compassionate?" Because others do not show compassion towards us when we suffer is no excuse for treating them in the same manner. If we lack compassion towards others, even those whom we consider to be our enemies, then we are acting in an unnatural way. "Friend, because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting and hurt, why should I give up my nature to be compassionate?"

Father

ML.

Tomasi S.M.