True Compassion-More than Pity

HUBERTA F. RANDALL

Pity and sympathy are among the finest expressions of human nature and are often sorely needed. But have their expression and the humanitarian work they have inspired put an end to the evil in the world?

In a moment of despair at the sight of human degradation, I knew that my own suffering from evil—that is, from my lingering belief in evil's reality—could only appear to fortify evil's claim to reality. Deep in my heart I had to admit that human pity is too often error's subtle way of holding mortals in its grasp, for pity tends to engraft its impressions of evil on the human mind and so tends to perpetuate what one yearns to destroy. A statement from the Bible came to my rescue: "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions."^{Eccl. 7:29;}

As long as we consider ourselves or others victims of error, we cannot be heralds of Truth and help people scientifically. Mrs. Eddy writes, "We sustain Truth, not by accepting, but by rejecting a lie."^{Science and Health, p. 357;}