Begin with an example of poverty/suffering.
Discuss:
- What thoughts come to mind on the idea of pity? Is it a positive or negative to pity someone?
- Does pity motivate your service? If someone were to accuse you of serving out of pity, how would you respond?
- Have you seen/heard pity expressed at your service site? How have you addressed this?
Though we may want to disassociate ourselves from the idea of pity, it is important that we both allow ourselves to pity and understand the role that such feelings can play. It is pity that moves us to perform acts of mercy that are often vital to those we may serve. Addressing systematic solutions to poverty is important, but we cannot ignore the immediate circumstances of marginalized and suffering people.
It is important to remember that VIA is not a progression, it is a continuous cycle. Pity is not necessarily the lower form of compassion and we cannot forget that we still experience pity.
Quotes for reflection:
“…experience leads to compassion, or at least can lead to compassion if we allow it to develop. We need to avoid putting obstacles in the way of compassion, by seeing the poverty and suffering of the poor as a result of laziness or ignorance, by washing our hands of the problem, or by claiming helplessness in the face of it.” -T. Wiesner
“Definition: Sympathy and sorrow aroused by the misfortune or suffering of another. Pity often implies a feeling of sorrow that inclines one to help or to show mercy: felt pity for the outcast.” -dictionary.com
“What is going to happen to you if you openly go to a place were there is poverty and misery… The first thing you can experience in front of human pain, need, suffering, death, hunger or nakedness is pity. You can feel sorry about it. That feeling can develop into two things: 1) An action of assistance, you will try to help, to feed, to heal, to do something for the moment… or 2) You will simply escape the scenario, full of fear and impotence.” -Andres Reyes