The Power & Importance of Compassion: Guest Contributor, Zach Schwartz

#TheGroundFloor is thrilled to welcome guest contributor, Zach Schwartz, for this week’s edition! Zach has been a close friend of mine since childhood where we grew up together in the Jewish community in Pittsburgh. In recent years, Zach and I have worked alongside each other in various capacities. Most notably, Zach is an integral part of our young leadership at Tree of Life Synagogue & all around the community in Pittsburgh. Since the attack on the Jewish community on October 27, 2018, Zach has stepped up to be a key piece in the healing process of our community.

Zach was born and raised in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. He is a political and government affairs professional who has managed numerous political campaigns at every level and every branch government and has worked for a multitude of diversified organizations. Zach currently lives in his home in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

I am very excited to welcome Zach to #TheGroundFloor where he discusses a very important topic that we should all focus on, compassion.

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Andrew Exler and I have known each other for most of our lives from growing up together at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Jewish community. Andrew, myself, and others came together following the Tree of Life Shooting on October 27, 2018 to ensure that our community grows, thrives, and prospers. It has been an honor to grow our friendship and work with him towards a positive outcome. I’m thankful to him and Andrew Exler Consulting for providing me with an outlet to share my thoughts, and I hope everyone who reads this is able to take something away from it!

Compassion. “The sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” [1] What a truly profound word; Compassionate people not only sense the pain and need for help that others may have, but also feel it is their duty to help them through it.

In a time of so much pain and mourning for so many people, we must realize that compassion can save lives. Every time we decide to run an errand, go for a jog, take a walk, etc., we never know who we are going to come into contact with. It could be a nurse who works the night shift in a COVID-19 unit trying to save people’s lives. It could be a grocery store worker who works day and night to stock shelves so we can put food on our tables. It could be the worker at a food processing facility who ensures that our grocery stores have the products to stock in the first place. It could be a custodian working to make sure the hospital, grocery store, food processing facility, and other essential places of work are clean and safe for those that work in them and the customers that frequent them. It could be a person with an autoimmune disorder who’s just trying to keep themselves safe.

All of these and countless other essential workers are reliant upon us to keep them safe so they can be there for all of us. What if you have COVID-19, are asymptomatic, don’t even realize you have it, decide not to wear a mask on your walk, and inadvertently breathe on that nurse, custodian, or food processor? What happens if you decide to take your mask off in the grocery store and you infect a grocery store worker? The effects could be catastrophic all because of one decision. Your decisions have an effect on members of our essential workforce and their families. Your compassion influences those decisions. Your compassion is powerful and important.

Compassion transcends this global pandemic, however. If we have learned anything, it’s how truly intertwined our lives are with each other’s. We are an incredibly diverse and individualistic global society comprised of different cultures, ages, creeds, ethnic backgrounds, religions, sexual orientations, socioeconomic statuses, etc. There are infinite ways in which we are both similar and different from each other.

Despite our similarities and differences, we live in a world filled with too much hate and not enough love. We don’t take the time to try to truly understand and listen to each other. Too often, we become frustrated or angry with other people because we try to understand them through how we look at ourselves. If we are to continue in a global, collective society we must have compassion for each other. We must try to see how who we are, what we do, and how we act can affect those around us, and we must try to do all we can to support each other. We must become truly compassionate.

A compassionate society has the power to change the world. It has the power to bring about world peace. It has the power to end hunger, develop countries, and protect the rights of workers and individuals. We have the power to fix so many of the world’s problems, if only we could all become more compassionate.

- Zach

[1] “Compassion.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compassion.

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Thank you, Zach, for being a guest contributor for #TheGroundFloor!

I am always looking to welcoming guest contributors to #TheGroundFloor! If you are interested in writing or have a specific topic you’d like discussed, please contact me!

- Andrew

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