By: Schatzie Brunner, Founder, New Way Now

Compassion takes courage. And if you ever doubted it, turn the news on later and see how thousands of people aren’t just feeling compassionate after the horrific death of George Floyd but using the language of peaceful protests to demonstrate how deeply they feel compassion for those who have been victims of police violence.

It is so easy to sit on the couch and be outraged by what happened at the hands of four Minneapolis policemen to Mr. Floyd, an unarmed man. Or the violent treatment of Washington D.C. peaceful protesters in front of the White House on June 1, 2020.

But if you don’t want to hit the streets and openly demonstrate your compassion for others, please think about building courage as a way to express your outrage.

At Stanford University’s Center for Compassion, “compassion” is defined as a sense of concern when we are confronted by another person and feel motivated to be of help to them. We may feel motivated, but how about acting doing something.

It doesn’t take a University professor to tell us how self-seeking and competitive each of us is and that that may be at the heart of keeping us from acting. But what we forget is that making a difference for the other person makes our own lives matter and brings worth and purpose to our own lives.

Small acts of compassion can have a bigger impact than you might expect.