Compassion used to be a virtue to be admired, but today we seem to have reduced it to political labels. Someone who shows compassion is likely to be tagged with one of those knee-jerk labels.

But a people without compassion for each other have a society that has lost its moorings. Compassion is part of what holds it together, and the successful ones create a set of values and institutions to perpetuate them. In ours, we have the family, schools, churches and social organizations to promote them. One of the greatest achievements parents take pride in is seeing their children show compassion and sharing with others. It's part of the socialization process of children. And when families were not under stress as they are today, parents turned over their "precious packages" — with tears and hearts beating fast — to the school and watched them experience their first run at the real world.

Our families are struggling to make it in today's changing economy where both parents, or single parents, must make hard choices — to have the luxury and joy of raising children, or turning them over to a caregiver (hopefully a kind one) that can give the nurturing and love the child needs to experience in order to learn compassion and understanding of each other. Many of today's parents had the opportunity to become socialized in the traditional institutions of our communities, churches, pre-K-12 schools, and the mighty TV programs — "Romper Room," "be a good do-bee," and for the very young, "Sesame Street" and "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood." Later there was, "The Rifleman" and the old standby series, "Leave it to Beaver."

Since WWII, the quality of life has improved, at least materially, for many of us. We also have a more rapid, mobile and impersonal society where the song lyrics, "Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?" express it well. We now have a growing upper and lower economic class and a shrinking middle class. The GI Bill and FHA helped create the suburbs, which in many instances left the poor, elderly and the disabled to live in low-income dwellings in the inner city.

Furthermore, what we learned in church, "that the poor will always be with us," may be true; but today, "out of sight and out of mind" is equally true. Somehow, we have created what seems to be a "societal denial" of the poor's existence, many of whom are elderly. And in our hectic lives, we have turned to nursing homes to care for them. There is a new generation that has not experienced "doing without" or difficult or tragic events in their own lives, and missing that, find it hard to empathize with those who have. Or there are some who say, "If I made it, anyone can do it."

As a consequence, there seems to be a disconnect between the values that supposedly were taught in our social institutions and how some now view life. Most disturbing is that some are now making laws and public policies that govern our lives today. Some are able to dismiss the misfortune of others with political and philosophical labels, because to them it is an abstraction; thus empathy and compassion for the plight of others can be rationalized away. Only when it happens to them may some remember and practice the lessons they learned from their parents, teachers and spiritual leaders.