Response to Kozol and Ascher

Both essays evoke a sense of sympathy/empathy, whatever one wishes to call the emotion. Using certain examples that the reader can relate to for he/she has seen on a daily basis or has simply heard about such circumstances can really make the reader sway his/her opinion on the matter. I appreciate that Kozol's essay uses more fact-based data to exemplify the illiteracy rate in the US and how it causes a lot of problems for people who struggle daily to live based on images rather than letters. I also like the more personalized examples on Ascher's essay which bases her viewpoint based on personal experience. Both essays make strong points. They both show  a sense of empathy although one, like the title says, focuses on what is compassion and Kozol's essay focuses more on sympathy. The "On Compassion" essay "asks" the reader to differentiate between the emotions of pity, care and compassion because it seems that often these feelings overlap or we simply do not take into consideration as to the reason why we do such actions as in "giving money." "The Human Cost of a Illiterate Society" immediately, at least for me, made me sink in to a sense of sadness, pity and disappointment. It was more like of a "wow, really?" type of moment, rather than the Ascher essay which felt more of a "oh, I do wonder if..." I do admit Ascher's essay was more thought provoking with all the rhetorical questions. Both essays do make me wonder deeper on a matter that I always consider on my sense of empathy. Especially with the homeless, what if they don't want to be pitied, as one of my teachers had taught me before, what if it's a statement that they are trying to make, or is that too broad of a generalizations.. I think so, but there are always exceptions. As I sit and type this, the Kozol essay made me wonder about who can read this, for I guess I assumed that everyone who lived in the same country as I do, knew how to read, I guess I'm  ignorant and foolish for thinking that. I feel as if both essays are about having biased opinions and how eventually we just presume we know stuff that we might not.