In late December 2004, an enormous earthquake set off a giant tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It swept along the coasts, leaving a path of death and destruction, with the devastation particularly acute in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. In some coastal communities, waves reached 100 feet high. In the end, the tsunami was responsible for nearly 350,000 deaths and countless injuries. As images of human suffering filled our television screens, there was a global outpouring of prayer and financial donations to aid the victims.

The following year, Hurricane Katrina blew into New Orleans, La., breaching every levee and flooding about 80 percent of the city. At least 1,836 people lost their lives in either the hurricane or the subsequent flooding. After a series of embarrassing miscues by government agencies, the American people once again gave money and resources to help the thousands of displaced families.

Undoubtedly the record financial donations from individuals and the thousands of volunteers were in part responses to the strong and widespread news coverage these events received. However, media attention is a double-edged sword.

With our 24-hour news channels reporting on various natural disasters, celebrities crusading against world poverty, and the appeals for funds and images of suffering coming at us from nonprofit and relief organizations, we can’t seem to avoid stories of human misery. And though we need to be aware of what is happening around us, sometimes it just feels like too much, and we are tempted to shut down. We suffer from overexposure, and overexposure is the prelude to “compassion fatigue.”

Giving Fatigue

Compassion fatigue is the gradual lessening of compassion over time, usually due to a growing feeling that all the effort being expended is pointless. Compassion spurs us to get involved: to pray for the victims, volunteer hours at a local soup kitchen, participate in a mission trip and give to help the homeless. But compassion fatigue sets in when we work and give … but begin to wonder why things don’t seem to be getting better. We might feel as though all our best efforts are like trying to empty a swimming pool with a teaspoon. We grow weary from doing good after not seeing immediate results we’d hoped for. Eventually we can become callous and desensitized and no longer willing to hear another sad story or a charity’s pitch for money.

And we have grown more skeptical. We are more uncertain our donations are going to be used wisely and as we intended. After the 9/11 attacks, many charities set up funds for the families of victims of the terrorist attacks. They created public service announcements and sent out direct mail appeals for this purpose, and people responded generously. Then we learned that in some cases, a relatively small percentage of the donations actually made their way to the families. Donations were instead used to meet other general administrative needs. Even though one could argue that these were legitimate and needed long-term expenditures, many generous givers were left feeling as if they had been duped and cheated. Among Christians, reports continue of some religious leaders who raise enormous amounts of money in the name of compassion but absorb most of it for overhead or to support their elaborate lifestyles. These abuses make people more nervous and skeptical about giving. How this must grieve the Lord.

How sad that a handful of abusers are creating a scenario that is hurting all compassion organizations. For truly, most of the organizations are very responsible with the way they use their funds and are very transparent about how the money is being spent. Our response should not be to give up on giving, but instead to do some homework to make sure we are giving wisely.

Weary from Doing Good

Much of what we have said so far is oriented to the fatigue that arises from overexposure and irresponsibility. But perhaps even more devastating is the compassion fatigue that arises in people who are giving their time and talent to be foot soldiers in the war against poverty and injustice—the people whose work as volunteers in food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and other compassion ministries makes it possible for us to make strides against these problems. Sure, we critically need more donations … and we always will. But we also need those who will give of themselves to be with the poor.

Yet sometimes compassion in action can be so discouraging. As Mark Twain once wrote: “The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid again. But he won’t sit upon a cold stove lid either.” When we have poured ourselves into a cause that fails to bear much fruit, we can become dispirited. We can be reluctant to try again. Likewise, we can be so disappointed if we put a lot of time and labor into trying to correct a social injustice or to right an inequality, only to have things remain the same.

Plugging into the Power Source

Our best hope for dealing with compassion fatigue is to remember that God is our source. If we try to cope with all of the frustration and disappointment in our own strength and power, we are probably bound to fail and become discouragement’s next victim. We need to experience God’s heart and God’s strength if we are to avoid compassion burnout.

If we are plugged into our own power supply, we are sure to experience compassion fatigue. We need to get plugged into God, the eternal source of wisdom, strength, joy, perspective and compassion. Without Him to strengthen us, we cannot hope to keep ourselves focused and fueled to help others. We too quickly fall back on self-absorption, the desire for comfort and the demand for short-term solutions. But God can help us take the spotlight off ourselves, offer us the courage to sacrifice, and give us a more patient and long-term eternal perspective on problems.


Taken from: The Compassion Revolution. Copyright © 2010 by Dave Donaldson. Published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR. Used by permission.