We hear and read a lot in the media currently about hospital nurses apparently lacking compassion. Because compassion is usually thought of as empathy with another's suffering or distress, it is perhaps understandable that nurses should be considered as exemplars of compassion. Yet this is also demonstrated in work with people who are not necessarily in pain (such as old people) but who nevertheless are vulnerable.
Babies and young children are clear representations of vulnerability and it is therefore not surprising to see key-workers in settings everywhere acting not only with care but with compassion. The difference from care is that the compassionate person has a kind of dual perspective: he or she perceives the vulnerability but also the fundamental dignity and individuality of the human being in question.
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