The Compassion Deficit is a mile-marker on our shared road, August 18, 2025, a reminder that grace grows in small choices that anyone can make.
The Compassion Deficit is not just a headline. It is what I see on the road, in grocery lines, online threads, and in the way we hurry past one another without meeting the eyes in front of us. The gap we’ve come to call The Compassion Deficit shows up when patience runs thin and a simple kindness feels like too much effort. Some days it seems local, other days it feels global, the same ache with different street signs.
Scroll for five minutes and you will find it: quick verdicts, slow understanding, a pileup of words that do not land anywhere soft. Drive for five minutes and you will feel it: a horn leaned on too long, a driver cutting ahead to save five seconds at the cost of five tempers. It shows up small too, a cashier who never looks up, a neighbor who turns away when your hands are full.
Where The Compassion Deficit Shows Up
Deficits accumulate the way miles do, one little choice at a time. We get tired. We get protective. We forget that the person across from us also has a story, a bill due, a worry that kept them awake. When I forget, I think about the people who caught me on a rough day and lifted the weight an inch. A clerk in New Mexico slid a cold bottle of water across the counter, no charge, no speech, just a look that said, I see you. That inch was enough to keep going.
What Still Works
Small, steady kindness still works. A door held. A seat given. A thank you that sounds like you mean it. These are not grand gestures; they are lane corrections. They nudge our common road back toward mercy. If you want more of these stories, they live here in the Journal, written like a diner-booth conversation so you can rest a minute and then carry on.
“Compassion is not a feeling you wait for; it is a choice you make with the face in front of you.”
A Way Forward
Understanding the why helps us practice the how. Research on empathy and prosocial behavior gives language to what our hearts already know. The Greater Good Science Center offers a clear, helpful overview of empathy and how it can be strengthened over time. Knowledge is not the whole cure, but it can be a useful map.
We will still hit potholes. The road is the road. But if each of us patches a foot or two with patience, if each of us chooses one generous act before noon, the next mile gets smoother for everyone. That’s how The Compassion Deficit starts to close — not all at once, but one kind choice at a time.
The Compassion Deficit – Roadside Reflection
Choose one small kindness before noon. Meet one pair of eyes and let yours say, “I see you.” When you can, add a second kindness after lunch. That is how gaps close. The road is full of people carrying more than they’ll ever admit. A door held open, a patient smile in line, or a wave to the driver who lets you merge—those are mile markers of grace. None of them take much time, but together they change the map. Start with one, then another, and before long the deficit shrinks.
Faith and Good Courage is a podcast and journal by Christopher Tuttle.
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