The necessity of compassion.

I am hitting my heavy bag the other day. My boy of three years old comes up and says, "Dad, what are you doing?"  I tell him I'm working out and he just goes.on his way. This brings to mind a question I often ponder, when do I start teaching him how to fight?

There are things I have been  doing with him to developed skills like strength, balance, coordination etc... He jumps and runs and sometimes mimics me. He thinks its just a game when he uses my training knife to hit a tennis ball on a string hanging from a ceiling. Right now it's just fun, like baseball or any other sport. When do I teach him HOW to hurt people without teaching him TO hurt people
 I can only come to the conclusion that I need to see him display great compassion before I teach him how to fight. What is compassion? To me it is having concern for the well being of others. He has displayed this with other kids, he apologizes when he " bonks" someone accidentally. He also helps them up when they fall. I don't feel like this is enough.

Now I am faced with the decision as to what is enough. When I think about it now I figure that it will "come to me" in a sense. Will he come to the aid of a child in the playground? or will he help a small animal that most would see as insignificant? I don't know.

I find this important Whenever I watch the news. I see all the violence, riots, robberies, and most notably school shootings. I live in Colorado and unfortunately those are usually kinda close to home. I wonder what these people's childhood was like. How do they not have the compassion that would have diverted their intention from doing these things?

I realize that I have only brought more questions than answers. There is one thing I know. Bad people exist no matter what. You can raise a kid perfect and find he or she was born a psychopath. But if there is none raised with the skills and willingness to help and protect people, the good ones wouldn't stand a chance.