Healthy self-confidence is essential for compassion. It covers both sides of the equation. Humility leads to concern and compassion for others. Self-confidence leads to taking care of ourself through self-compassion. Moving towards this attitude of healthy self-confidence automatically brings courage and inner strength. This courage and inner strength are paramount in addressing and fighting injustice. Some people think compassion is weak and impotent, like a limp Hokkaido eggplant! It is just the opposite. Compassion particularly when fighting bullying, or any kind of aggression towards people or animals, requires healthy self-confidence. It requires courage and inner strength. Great beings who fought or are fighting injustice with healthy self-confidence imbued with courage and inner strength, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Saint Mother Teresa, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., President Nelson Mandela, and of course His Holiness the Dalai Lama, were and are all fighting injustice with love and compassion, so called “tough love.”
