The Big Difference Between Pity and Compassion
"What in the world am I doing here in Ethiopia?" I wondered, as I bounced in the jeep with missionary doctor, Harold Adolph. Our motor vehicle was the only one in sight. Slowly, we navigated our way through a sea of pedestrians, ox carts, and chickens, down the deeply rutted dirt road into in the village of Soddo. It was just as if I had been plucked from the northwoods and plopped into a National Geographic documentary on Africa. Arriving at the clinic, we emerged from our Jeep, and were immediately swarmed by hundreds of needy people seeking medical attention. Most had been waiting for hours to see the good doctor. Many would have to wait much longer. I observed a grieving mother, holding a lifeless infant in her arms. She looked at me with pleading eyes. I looked away. The immensity of poverty and human suffering was absolutely overwhelming. Never, in all my life, had I witnessed such need, and felt so powerless to do anything about it. A grotesque begger approached me.
