Power of Compassion and Empathy
Power of Compassion and Empathy
This story was written by Asrar on board the same train where the real events took place.
I believe that compassion and empathy can save lives, it can change the world. The power of our hearts and souls are tremendously amazing, when we feel with others and emotionally put ourselves in their shoes, we develop magical powers which is the power of praying, praying with all the power of our hearts and souls, these prayers save lives, miracles do occur by God’s mercy and God’s will.
If someone is in a grave danger that could end his life at any second, you could save them by compassion and empathy, by feeling their pain and fear as if you are in their place as if it is your life which might end at any second. Then pray by the maximum power of your heart, soul, and consciousness, that God saves them, embraces them with his mercy, protect them from all dangers, save them, and calm their fear and loneliness.
Another fact about compassion and empathy is that they are contagious, it starts inside one heart and then transmits to the surrounding hearts, invading their souls towards accomplishing what started in your heart and soul, towards saving that poor life who is in a grave danger.
So you ask me what happened? A miracle happened, I say!
One night I was travelling by train back to my hometown, and I was not the only one who wanted to get home. Suddenly some of the passengers heard a screaming, shivering voice of a young boy, “My leg hurts! I will slip away! I will fall off!” he yelled for a long time, they did not know where the sound came from, only one guy was searching for the source of the voice and found out that a young boy was hanging outside of the train and was going to fall off… Nobody could see him, even if they look from the window, he was in a hard to see or reach place, stuck between two of the train carriages with no place to stand. Nobody could even hold his hand to prevent him from falling off the train. Everyone was wondering how he got stuck in that place!
I did not notice all this, until someone was trying to get the other passenger’s attention and tell them there is a young boy screaming and yelling for help, the poor boy could not take it anymore, his hands, feets and whole body were so weak and he could not hang on, “I cannot hang on anymore sir, please how much time till the next stop, please ask him to stop, I will fall off the train!” yelled the young boy with a very shaky and scared voice. There was no way the train could stop immediately because of the scheduled railway traffic, it could be very dangerous, but there is hope that the driver stops the train for a couple of minutes for the security personnel on board to get the boy inside the train. This scary and thrilling experience continued for more than one hour, it was a non-stop direct train ride from Cairo to Alexandria which is around 2 hours and half by direct train.
I started praying with empathy and compassion as if my heart was melting, and I was imagining myself in his shoes indeed, other people were not interested and thinking what a foolish kid putting himself in danger, and only a small number of the other passengers had real compassion with this poor kid and they started to get off their seats to offer their assistance and their compassion by calling out for the kid from behind the windows, saying things like, “Don’t be afraid we will stop very soon.”, “Have courage, you are strong.”, “Hang on tight, don’t lose your grip!”, and “We hear you, we are here for you, we will not leave you!”. I counted around 4 - 5 passengers who were really there for that boy. I wonder if the other passengers would have acted the same if that boy was their child… I am sure they would not have remained in their seats blaming the boy for being foolish… Shame on them…
Once the train reached “Tanta” station, which is around one and half hours from Cairo, during which the boy was still hanging on for his life. The train could finally stop for a couple of minutes, and the security personnel acted very fast to unlock the door of the carriage and the boy jumped off the train and injured his leg, the security personnel carried the boy inside, shivering, cannot feel his feet or legs, worn out clothes, dirty, barefoot… Scared of the security personnel and scared of everyone… I gave him medicine for his cold and gave him food and other passengers offered water. People started talking to him to make him feel safe, they started patting on his shoulders and putting their hands on his head saying, “You are safe now, dear!”, he was in a very bad state… I wish I could offer him more help than just medicine and food… He was an innocent soul that God only knows where he was and what he experiences every day… That poor soul did not have money to buy a ticket so he unfortunately gets on the train by hanging on the cables between the cars of the train, that place where the cars of the train are connected, he was just hanging there, barefoot and cold.
I thank God that he was saved by our prayers! If we pray for others the same way we do pray for ourselves and our beloved ones when they are in a grave danger, if we reach this level of compassion and empathy within our prayers, I believe we could save all the poor souls out there and miracles indeed do happen!
Just pray with a pure heart, pray to your God, pray with an open heart, with all you got, and never give up on any of your fellow humans, God bless you all!
