Compare And Contrast This Is Water And On Compassion

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The two essays “On Compassion” and “This is Water” by Barbara Ascher and David Wallace argue their different viewpoints on both compassion and empathy. While Ascher simply argues that compassion is not a simple character trait but more so a skill acquired overtime; Wallace tries to convince his audience that humans are preprogramed to be motivated by their own selfish desires and must reprogram themselves to think out of sympathy and concern for others.
Barbara Ascher’s, essay, “On Compassion,” compels the audience to interpret the compassion and empathy with their underlying definitions. Ascher states “I don’t believe that one is born compassionate. Compassion is not a character trait like a sunny disposition. It must be learned” (189). …show more content…

He compares the two by talking about a trip to the super market after a long day at work. He reminds his audience how flustering it can be to “maneuver your junky cart through all these other tired, hurried people with carts, and of course there are also the glacially slow old people and the spacey people and the ADHD kids who block the aisle” (206). This is a shopping experience everyone can relate to at some point in their life. Wallace states that this is just a default mindset that of course no one wants to admit to constantly having primarily due to the negative connotation it is given by society. If someone were to state they were annoyed by the old lady taking her time through the aisles or the “ADHD kid” they would immediately be labeled as rude, inconsiderate, and disrespectful. Yet Wallace tells his audience that they can control this at times, that they can show sympathy for the giant SUV that just cut them off on the high way, or the old lady who could be making her final trip to the grocery store. Wallace reasons that being thinking in this mindset is not our unconscious thought, that in order to embrace this empathetic and compassionate train of thought “it depends on what you want to consider.” (208). Informing his audience that awareness is essential and Wallace also declares that “you get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t.” (208). Therefore truly reaching this mindset is in the eye of the

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