Barbara Lazear Ascher's On Compassion

The essay, “On Compassion,” by Barbara Lazear Ascher illustrates compassion and creates an empathetic connotation for the reader to ‘put their feet into the characters’ moccasins.’ In paragraphs one and two, a homeless man approaches a mother and her child. According to Ascher’s words, the woman “waits for the light to change, and her hands close tighter on the stroller’s handle as she sees the man approach.” On the streets most people turn away and ‘close themselves’ from interacting with the homeless, because of the look that the homeless give off. However, the woman suddenly reached inside her purse and rummage through it, and pulled out “a folded dollar over her child’s head to the man who stops and stares even though the light has changed and traffic navigates around his hips.” Another example of an anecdote is found on paragraph 7, which explains another scenario with a homeless man entering into a cafe with the smell of “stale cigarettes and urine.” As the homeless man enters into the cafe, the owner, a moody French woman, “emerges from the kitchen with steaming coffee in a Styrofoam cup and a small paper bag of… of what?” The rhetorical question draws a conclusion of what the content might be inside the bag and the fact that it continues, “Yesterday’s bread?

Lastly on paragraph 7, the mayor of New York City is moving the homeless towards the Bellevue Hospital when the winter comes. However, Ascher continues to go on that the New York Civil Liberties are doubting his decision about these people and if they are being violated because of