Can you learn compassion?

Are we taught compassion? Is compassion something that is emulated?

Obviously, I am very sarcastic in nature.  Is sarcasm taught or emulated? I hope my children are more sincere and less sarcastic than I am...not looking good so far...I think it's emulated.

I read a facebook post my cousin wrote this afternoon and instantly tears were streaming down my face.  I didn't even have the courage to click on her proposed caringbridge link.  I read her post and thought to myself: "good God, I have enough people on my never ending prayer list!  I can't start following this caringbridge site for a complete stranger today. I'm emotionally spent as it is!"

Then I read her daughters post later in the evening.  She is seventeen and these were the thoughts that were running through her pretty little head tonight:

"I think autumn is the fullest season, and the emptiest at the same time. Everywhere you look, there's a burst of orange or a spark of red, so bright and eye-catching among the smattering of different greens around you. Full of color and crispness and pumpkins and the faint remainder of that fresh-cut grass smell. Then it's empty. Empty because some trees are already bare because of the change. Empty because you're always running out of time to be in the moment. Empty because its so full of momentum. It goes by so fast it's empty of enough praise. It's kind of like life...maybe we should step back and enjoy the simple beauties our world (and our lives!) has to offer us." Hailey Elizabeth Holke

Anyways, this is the question that is banging around in my head tonight: Can you learn compassion? Is it taught?  Is it something that you have felt and from then on you wanted to extend the feeling to others? Not sure!

My hypothesis: either genetic tendencies extend to emotional maturity in the form of compassion or it's emulated.  I think the elders in my family must be pretty good examples:)  Oh, and I did go back to Alissa's post, clicked on the caringbridge page, entered my email and password as a frequent visitor and prayed for young Will. 

PS to Hai: When you read my Friday Fun (that isn't really fun this week) you will smile at the similarities in our outlook on fall.  Astounding, really, since we don't see each other very often!

If compassion can be taught, these might be a few ways to teach compassion:

~Bring your children with you when you do community service/stop by to help a friend in need.  It's a pain in the rear-end sometimes (especially when you have to load three of them), but how else will they emulate your behavior if they don't see it! (And, no, I do not always follow this rule!)

~When they are watching a show/reading a book ask them questions about how the character might be feeling in a bad circumstance or what they could do to make a bad situation a little better (like offer a hug).

~Ask your child to look around the lunch room/playground to see if anyone is sitting alone.  Ask them how they would feel if they were the one sitting all by themselves.  Encourage them to invite the outsider to play! (My mom did a really good job at this one!  Other than when I'm at the 5:40am spin class, I am known to walk up to a stranger/group of strangers, introduce myself and initiate conversation...often to the displeasure of my husband and friends:))

~Show your children love and affection each and every day!