We cannot deny the existence of the helpless as their presence grows.  It is impossible to insulate ourselves against what is at our very doorstep.  I don’t believe that one is born compassionate.  Compassion is not a character trait like a sunny disposition.  It must be learned, and it is learned by having adversity at our windows, coming through the gates of our yards, the walls of our towns, adversity that becomes so familiar that we begin to identify and empathize with it.”    ~ Barbara Lazear Ascher, in her essay On Compassion