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It's been very difficult this week looking at the footage coming back from the parts of southern Africa which have been left devastated after Cyclone Idai swept through Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Hundreds of people have been killed and more than two million have been affected. Even though the cyclone hit Mozambique over a week ago, the aftermath brings with it floods, disease and starvation. The sheer scale of it has left people in such despair. One stranded motorist told the �鶹��: “If there was a roof remaining, people were on it...families, kids and babies on trees as far as the eye could see.” It is a tragedy. Even when TV news reports show something of the scale of the horror, it still somehow doesn’t feel real. Even though we may be moved in the moment we can feel disconnected by geography and distracted by more immediate concerns closer to home. With so many other places on the planet struggling with various crises, it can be too much to take in, as if we can’t possibly have enough empathy and energy to deal with it all. This is often described as compassion fatigue. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna describes compassion as being a quality that is inherent within our spiritual self. The mind and body may be vehicles for expressing and feeling it, but the source is within us. When we have a regular practice of connecting with what’s going on around us from our inner self rather than just our thoughts and emotions, then it is less likely this compassion will dwindle. In fact Krishna explains that our innate compassion is so deep that it can become as intense as a willingness to take the place of the person that’s suffering so that they are relieved of their pain. Some believe compassion isn’t always the best motivator for an effective response to a global crisis – and that clear-eyed policy making should be driven by rational long-term calculations rather than emotional reflexes. What I find encouraging is that despite our domestic political worries, the Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal for the victims of Cyclone Idai raised 8 million pounds in the first 24 hours, which I feel echoes our inherent compassion. The human suffering caused by Cyclone Idai will continue long after the news agenda has moved on. But I believe it is important neither to let ourselves become emotionally desensitised to such events, nor to let them overwhelm us. I think compassion is in danger of being reduced to just a feeling unless coupled with focused action.