Compassion and Its Limits

Why would anyone fly planes into the twin towers, butcher Tutsi, use chemical weapons on children in Syria, or send naked and emaciated Jews to gas chambers? When I consider my own conscious, I consider these acts too brutal to be justifiable or even possible.

However, history is proving that such wickedness is indeed present in our world. My compassion hopes that Hitler had some redeemable qualities. Maybe the dictator enjoyed the German sunrise and loved his wife more than life. My compassion hopes that Adam Lanza had qualities that attracted others to him. Maybe he could write gripping poetry or make his friends laugh.

Hollywood uses the protagonist and the antagonist to say something profound about good and evil. Real human choice isn't always as black and white. Still, when mass murderers like Hitler and Assad enter the stage, it is harder to see the white.

I don't want to understand Hitler's perceptions. I don't want to know why he felt he had the right and responsibility to create a superior race through murder. That frame of mind is offensive to me, and I don't spend time attempting to rationalize his motivations. Nevertheless, I want to extend him some grace. I am convinced that in his madness, he still believed he was pursuing something praiseworthy. There is the chance that he was the full embodiment of evil, but since I am not omniscient, I will refrain from holding a festering hatred of him.

Compassion is a higher road even when compassion appears excessive or undeserved. I am not morally superior to Hitler or Asad or Lanza. I have the same capacity to hate my fellowman. I need the same grace. Compassion has very few limits.

I am reading a book, Psychiatrists: The Men Behind Hitler. It is giving me a better understanding of the philosophies that fueled the Nazi Party. This book proves, if we don't guard our thoughts, we are capable of the same atrocities. I'd suggest reading it!