As I look outside my dorm window at the latest snow fall, I think about home and my neighbor Mark. When I lived at home, nearly every time the snow fell hard, Mark would come around the neighborhood with his big snowblower and plow the end of our driveways where the snowplow leaves huge mounds from plowing the street.  It takes up time that he could use to do other things, but instead, he gives kindness and compassion to our neighborhood. Kudos to Mark for being such a great neighbor! I hope more people, including me, can be as kind and selfless as he.

               Cyber bullying has grown rapidly as more and more people use the internet as a means of socializing. This new form of bullying is harder to define as well, because the reactions or visible intents of the parties are hidden behind computer screens. 

                As an avid gamer and internet user, I encounter this bullying every day. On forums, or any game that uses a chat system, users practice what is known as “trolling," or making posts purely with the intent of getting negative reactions out of people. While the writer may be doing this just for their own fun, these posts can hurt others who read them. While they may not be necessarily directed at a specific person, these posts are still bullying and show a deliberate lack of compassion that hurts others. And because the internet is mostly anonymous, cyber bullying usually has no consequences for those who bully. I must admit I have bullied others through “trolling”, and don’t realize the consequences because I, as well as everyone else, am sitting safely on the other side of the computer screen. 

   Mental illness is a major problem in our world: more than 50 million people in the U.S. alone have been diagnosed with some type of mental illness. Mental illness can lead to so many problems for individuals and society: poverty, homelessness, and relationship problems can very often be connected to mental illness. Fortunately there is an effective way to show our compassion for to this problem.

No one should be without a warm place to stay or be hungry, but what is the right way to approach homelessness? Should we give to the person on the street who asks for money? Or should we help by donating to organizations that can help him or her? Which way will your compassion do the most?

Immigration is, and always will be, an important issue in the United States. But when addressing this issue, there needs to be more acceptance and understanding—compassion, if you will.

With increased border patrols and security and the recent Arizona immigration law, the discussion around immigration is turing more negative. Politicians and ordinary citizens are blaming immigration as  the reason for lost jobs and government debt.  Americans are increasingly supporting reduced immigration and tighter restrictions to curb the influx of immigrants, which isn’t how we should be thinking.