Man is a social animal; he has to live in society along with other people as he has no other option. He has to love them, hate them, fight with them, be kind and compassionate with them, but he has to be with others. And, while living with others he has to make sure that the more helpful, kind and compassionate he is, the more society moves towards improvement and betterment. In fact, kindness and compassion are the two most sacred values for men. Without these values it is very difficult for men to call themselves as human.
A society like that of ours where there are myriads of social problems and people are deprived of peace and tranquility and mostly hatred and violence are given priority; it is really important that there should be some remarkable and exemplary acts of kindness. There are thousands of people who basically thrive for compassion. They have to be loved and cared for. Decades of instability and insecurity have gifted them misery and poverty and the authoritative individuals and institutions have failed or neglected to assist them at all. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the people as a whole to help them and be compassionate to them.
And, the people of Afghanistan have started realizing this fact and every now and then we can see some actions that fill our hearts with optimism. In one of such actions members of a civil group have set up a “wall of kindness” in capital Kabul for needy people to collect and keep clothes and other things left behind by others on the wall. Their message is simple – if your economic condition is good, come and hang some unwanted clothes and other things so poor people can benefit from them. The wall of kindness has been set up in Golayan area in the limits of the third police district of Kabul. The organizers have written messages on the wall including: “If you don’t need it, leave it.
If you need it, take it.” The organizers urged civil society activists to erect similar walls in various parts of the city in order to promote the culture of charity and restore faith in humanity.
This act of kindness is really worth appreciation and there should be such efforts by other members of the society as well so that the poor and needy people of Afghanistan get some sort of solace. It is really imperative for the people as whole to understand that accepting others, supporting and assisting them are the only way to live in today’s world that is turning to be more and more mechanical with each passing day. Human beings require adopting compassion as their top priority behavioral trait, if they want to guarantee their existence in the world. So much hatred, bloodshed and differences have been promulgated just because human beings have forgotten the habit of compassion.
Mahatma Gandhi had said, “It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.”
Compassion, in fact, has that capacity. It can turn enemies into friends. The policy of hatred can only generate further hatred; it creates a never-ending chain. If you hate others; others will hate you as well and process will continue. In order to break the chain of hatred and enmity, it is important to adopt compassion from the very beginning.
An imperative point to understand is that every person must start compassion from his own self. He must understand himself and his true nature first and then he can understand the worth and reality of others. Loving himself and developing his own personality will really help him in being kind to others. And, it must be realized as well that being compassionate to others does not mean that a person is superior to others – that he is on the giving end and others are on receiving end. It is mutual – compassion for others is vital for one’s own self and personality as well.   
Some may argue that it is only an ideal thinking that compassion alone can win hearts and turn enemies into friends. They base their observations and their thinking on the happenings and events that take place in our society.
They see the hatred in it; the war and the discrepancies. There is uncontrolled bloodshed in different parts of the country. People seem thirsty for the blood of their fellow beings. Politics and religions have turned into monsters that further push us towards hatred and disdain. They hold a strong point in claiming that compassion may not be influential in such circumstances. However, they need to see the point from another perspective as well.
It is crucial to comprehend that the current policy of animosity and envy will lead us towards extinction.
Is it wise to continue the same policy? Never! So we require changing ourselves. Realizing this fact is of utmost importance. Having realized it, we can further debate the viability of the policy of compassion in our society.