Compassion is a response of the present. How do you receive the person who is right before you? When you look at the myriad beings in this world, you also meet your own prejudices: There are those you are delighted to connect with and serve and those you resist, maybe thinking they deserve their pain. When you meet the hapless victim of a road accident or a child dying of cancer, your heart overflows with natural, spontaneous compassion. When you meet the person dying of cirrhosis of the liver induced by alcoholism or the person imprisoned for violence, your heart may close, and you may find yourself deaf to their cries.
— Christina Feldman, Compassion