A weak person, as a rule, thinks only of himself and his good, such is his limited and selfish nature. But strong-minded people find the courage and determination in themselves to think about others and take care of them, not expecting anything in return. Therefore, I agree with the statement that responsiveness indicates the presence of a person’s strength of mind.
In Solzhenitsyn’s short story “Matrenin Dvor,” the theme of responsiveness is central. The main character constantly helps everyone, while she is disinterested and modest, does not even require praise. Her life story is no less original: she even married out of pity to help the family of a missing loved one. Her younger brother, Yefim, married her, and when the missing soldier suddenly returned, it was too late to change anything. So Matryona lived with her unloved husband all the time, and all her children died in infancy. But even here the woman did not become hardened and took up the daughter of Thaddeus, that same lover, who also married, but unlike Matryona, had six children. The heroine raised Kira as a native, giving her all her modest wealth. She did not take any payment from the girl’s parents. Even her death occurred at a time when she helped to drag her property to give it to Kira. The unfortunate heroine constantly sacrificed her interests to help others, so the narrator says that she is a righteous woman, without whom, according to a proverb, a village is not worth it. By this, he points to the phenomenal strength of a woman.
Marya Bolkonskaya from Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” loves and tenderly cares for her father, who is a nasty and cruel man. He constantly tells her that she is not smart enough and smart, his jokes and harsh expressions hurt the fragile and harmless girl. For example, teaching mathematics looks like beating a baby: the prince complains about the stupidity of his daughter and is annoyed by her every gesture. And even various taunts and attacks do not give Marya the slightest reason to forget that she is the daughter of her father, who must take care of people who need good nature and compassion. The heroine is with the prince until the end of his days, but only at the end of his life does he understand how unfair he was to a sympathetic and compassionate daughter. It is hard to imagine how much strength and patience Marya needed to empathize and help someone who neglected her like that.
Thus, a sympathetic person is always one who has the fortitude necessary to empathize and help one's neighbor. Without the will and courage, no one can go beyond their needs and desires, paying attention to the one who needs help.
