Compassion wins again
In a January 3rd article in our local paper, The Reno Gazette, printed an article by Garret Condon of the Harford Courant, which outlined the results of a study from Brigham Young University that examined the possible link between religiousity and better psychsocial health. The study revealed a truth that surprised everyone. THe head researcher, Patrick Steffen, said that religious people had the best health in his study..however, when they controlled for compassion, the religion-health relationship disappeared.
What the study showed was that if religious people had the best health it was because they were more compassionate. While more studies are being designed to go beyond the local Utah community,
I am reminded why self-employed people seem to have lower absenteeism from work. Not because they are healthier, but because they cannot afford to take off a day… Musicians, similarly, have the lowest absenteeism of any professional group for the same reason, with added pressure of not wanting a substitute to replace them.
In my own experience, compassion, hope, strong relationships that come forward at times of crises define the health experience. It seems that those who have the least to lose, lose the most. Those who have the most to lose, hold on dearly.
The article went on at its conclusion to say that it is clearly not enough to just go the Church on Sunday..or to Synagogue or Mosque on Saturday, or to bible study on Wednesday evenings. Rather what is most important and seems to have the strongest impact on health is learning the principles of compassion, love, and interpersonal skills and integrating this into ones life that makes the difference. Even a person who would defined themselves non-religious who are compassionate would show the same benefits…
In our work, we have witnessed the astounding caring and compassion with the Catholic Hospital system, community hospitals, Jewish Hospitals, Malaysian hospitals… it is clear that compassion knows only the hearts of the individual and can be wonderfully pandemic within a culture that holds it of great value. Unfortunately, lack of compassion can run as rampant.