2.+Author's+Purpose

Authors Purpose The Author's purpose is to remind humanity of what true compassion is, an act motivated by empathy rather than fear, and to describe how compassion becomes a part of people and what causes it to grow. He also analyzes the role of the homeless relating to humanity and compassion.

//"I dont believe that one is born compassionate. Compassion is not a character trait like a sunny disposition. __It must be learned__, and it is learned by having adversity at our windows, coming through the gates of our yards, the walls of our towns, adversity that becomes so familiar that we begin to identify and empathize with it."// -Ascher page 2 paragraph 5

The author seperates how fear motivated gifts are seperated from compassionate ones, and how she believes that compassion is a learned behavior, one that is caused by constant exposure to raw humanity, which is shown in Ascher's story through the homeless.

Ascher also analyzes how people respond to this blatant adversity. //"Raw humanity offends our sensibilities. We want to protect ourselves from an awareness of rags with voices that make no sense and scream forth in inarticulate rage."// -Ascher page 2 paragraph 3