Running head: EMBODIMENT OF A COMPASSIONATE EXEMPLAR

lEmbodiment of a Compassionate Exemplar

lMelanie Keiser
lAltruism, Empathy, Compassion
October 24th, 2015
Dr. Stella Marrie

EMBODIMENT OF A COMPASSIONATE EXEMPLAR

Embodiment of a Compassionate Exemplar

Thankful Wildman Butler, born in January, 1751, embodied compassion for family and the
greater good of society. She was was pioneer woman who migrated to Jamaica, Vermont in
1781. Thankful Wildman Butler was compared to Ann Story by her decedents who proclaimed,
Ann Story had her cave, but Thankful made her fortress, her cabin. (Butler, 1922). There are
stories written about Thankful that I have possession of in book form, then there are the stories of
her everyday heroism, resiliency and compassion, handed down through the generations
beginning with her own children.

EMBODIMENT OF A COMPASSIONATE EXEMPLAR

Thankful is my maternal great, great, great, grandmother, and I too, have heard stories,
since my own mother was the keeper of our family history. Thankful Wildman Butler migrated
to Vermont from Connecticut in 1781. They settled in a cabin that they built on the West River,
in East Jamaica behind the Balancing Rock. I have stood in the cabin, which is now a kitchen,
where these stories were born, and I can feel the strength of her in the building. The following is
an account taken from a book by local historian Mark Worthen, Hometown Jamaica.
Thankful Wilman Butler was a hardy soul. She cleared and farmed the land and typified
the frontier mother. Judge Fred M. Butler in August of 1914 delivered a speech in J
Jamaica, in which he recounted a story about his own great-grandmother, told him by
her son. 'Thankful Butler made her fortress her cabin. The black bear, the catamount and
the wolf were not uncommon visitors. The catamount was regarded as exceedingly
vicious, and wolves when hungry, and assembled in packs seeking prey, were
frighteningly so...My grandfather has told me the tale of an evening when he was a small
boy, just as the sun was loing itself over the treetops. He looked up the valley to the
westward as strange but familiar sounds were heard in the distance. They came nearer.
The mother (Thankful) was alone with her four children, who were playing among the
trees at the time. She called to them and sent them inside, cautioning them to keep quiet.
She took down her gun and waited in the doorway in silence. Not a sound was heard,
save the dull moan of the evergreens and the frightful howl. Closer and closer came the
pack of hungry wolves, howling and sniffing the air as they approached. Louder and l
louder they howled. It seemed as though there were hundreds joining the pack from every
direction. The children held their breath. She waited in silence. When the fire of their
eyes came withing her vision, she blazed away from her doorstep. Net morning they

EMBODIMENT OF A COMPASSIONATE EXEMPLAR

found one of the pack lying dead before their door to tell the tale of what had
happened.' (Worthen, p. 16)

Thankful's husband was not with her very often, since he was in the Continental Army. He
was discharged in 1775, then re-enlisted in later. He died in March of 1787. (Butler, 1922)
Thankful was left alone previously and after her husbands death with four small children. Her
daily chores were tending to her children in ways foreign to us in modern society. Back then it
meant killing animals, butchering them and storing the meat so that other predators would not eat
it. There was no running water, she had to cut her own firewood, grow and store her own food,
protect she and her children from animals and from people, as a woman living in the wilderness
alone. There were the beginnings of a town and goods and services could be traded. She relied
on herself to feed her family and keep them safe. Just living in this period of time was heroic in
itself, and as widow alone, it seems more so. I believe that Thankful had a tremendous amount of

EMBODIMENT OF A COMPASSIONATE EXEMPLAR

compassion for her children. She also demonstrated the same for mankind in her belonging to the
Universalist meeting house, which in this era was controversial. This idea of spirituality and God
as a savior can belong to any person, of any religious belief, of any race was progressive
thinking. Although this meeting house never became a church, Thankful's risky belief that
everyone is equal and that all souls deserve salvation was progressive. She did not know at the
time that she was a part of something that in those early years,that would eventually change
society in large ways. One of those changes was that the Universalist Church led the battle to
separate church and state. It could not have been easy to be associated with a church that
accepted all souls. From its beginnings, Universalism challenged its members to reach out and
embrace people whom society often marginalized. The Gloucester church included a freed slave
among its charter members, and the Universalists became the first denomination to ordain
women to the ministry, beginning in 1863 with Olympia Brown.( UUA.org, 2015).
Although there is no way for me to know how happy or content Thankful actually was, I
believe that she worked hard and was a compassionate person. She was altruistic in a way that
was possibly risked her family being shunned by many. I look at her affiliation with the
Universalist meeting house to be a sign that she instinctively understood how to care about
others. As a pioneer woman who was the sole provider for her family, concerning food, shelter,
warmth, physical, emotional and spiritual realms, who was most likely in survival mode for
much of her life of seventy plus years, only enhanced her innate compassion as a member of her
tribe, as well as other tribes. Her struggles led her to recognize that we are all human and are
connected by the suffering we all have in common.
If one were to access where Thankful Wildman Butler fits in as an archetype, she would
most obviously be both Mother and Hero archetypes. Mother archetype for the obvious reason

EMBODIMENT OF A COMPASSIONATE EXEMPLAR

that she is first and foremost the mother and caregiver of four children, who was widowed and
left as the sole caretaker of home, children, garden, and of herself. This is where the hero
archetype comes in. Living in the 1780's seems heroic in itself. The daily routine required for
survival, preparation for the long winter, or enduring the long winter was all encompassing.
Adding to that, the natural motherly instincts that put her children's welfare first and Thankful's
natural compassionate tendency toward her community and ensuring that all human beings are
equal in God's eyes, makes her seem like strength and perfection, or more like the Hero
Archetype.
There have been mothers since the beginning of time. In fact, mothers have been noted to
have been the first to have empathy for their own children. Demonstrating this ability, males
later started having empathy for their own families, later having empathy for others in the tribe.
For the case of Thankful Wildman Butler, it is noticeable that the best interests of her children
were at the forefront of her thinking, but also her community. Those who support and have the
support of a community have a better chance of survival in primitive times, but also in current
times. The ways in which we need community have changed a bit, but the need is still there. In
the 1700's, it may have been for food or for help, if for example your health put you at risk of
losing your crops, which in turn would mean that you would starve. The ways in which people
helped one anther built human connection, from that grew compassion, empathy and altruism. In
contemporary society, it is the human connection in itself that is the support people are looking
for in community. In the book The Age of Empathy by Frans DeWaal, he writes,
Mutual aid has become a standard ingredient of modern evolutionary theories, albeit not
exactly in the way Kropotkin formulated it. Like Darwin, he believed that cooperative
groups of animals (or humans) would outperform less cooperative ones. In other words,

EMBODIMENT OF A COMPASSIONATE EXEMPLAR

the ability to function in a group and build a support network is a crucial survival skill.
The importance of such skills for primates was confirmed by a recent baboon study on
the Kenyan plains: Females with the best social ties were shown to have the most
surviving infants. Grooming partners protect each other form outside aggression, send
shrill waring calls to each other when they spot a predator, and provide soothing contact.
All of this helps baboon mothers raise offspring. (DeWaal, 2009)
Although this passage is about baboons, it clearly states what the needs are, and this directly
relates to what humans need as well. Perhaps Thankful, as well as others in the community, had
an intuitive longing to make sure they nurtured the human connections with neighbors as this
was beneficial for everyone's survival and general well being. Having to maintain these
connections takes work, keeping up with friendships take effort, and taking time to bring a sick
neighbor a casserole takes time. The people in the community in the 1780's did not have
television programs and self help books to guiding them toward helping themselves by helping
others. They just did this, it was the culture to care.
The last archetype that fits Thankful Wildman Butler is the Mother Earth Archetype. This
to me symbolizes strength of spirit, nurturing of all humankind, power of love, and being in
harmony with nature and animals. When I was a child, I watched a Christmas show on
television. In the show there was a character called Mother Nature who was a little scary, but
really kind and caring too. The other characters in the show would say It's not nice to fool with
mother nature. She was portrayed as the most powerful of all, with the ability to mediate and
create cooperation. There is never a question as to the respect she commands. I see Thankful in
this light, I know I have imagined her somewhat of a pioneer woman super heroine through the
years, even though she was a very simple woman, living a simple country life. The truth of this

EMBODIMENT OF A COMPASSIONATE EXEMPLAR

all is that when heroes come to mind for me, they are not the usual save the world heroes.
They are like Thankful in that mundane, everyday hard work is heroic. Staying steady and
raising kind children is heroic. Bringing your neighbor a casserole when they are sick, or lending
a hand during the harvest is heroic. Going against society's norms in small ways to model
kindness and compassion is heroic.
I got the idea to use Thankful as my example of an exemplar when I watched the film
The Last Iceman of Chimborazo (Lozada, 2012) found on the My Hero Project website. He is a
very simple old man who has lived his entire life doing the same job, which is climbing the
mountain by donkey and bringing special healing ice back to the town to sell. He is proud of his
simple task, yet we find that it is not so simple really. Nobody is willing to do this hard work any
more, even though it is revered as sort of a lost art. All of the knowhow and tradition that goes
along with a simple task is being lost by our generations who do not have to do these things
anymore. It is not important to the new generations, they do not understand it yet. The lost art of
daily routine and living a simple, good and decent life is heroic to me. With all of the
conveniences we have created, we are missing the human connection in the simple idea of
needing one another to survive.
Using the Mother Earth archetype as a pool of strength for me to draw from, with
Thankful in mind, has been a useful way for me to look at life as I progress through it.
Archetypes are like inner guides that orients us toward certain things and motivate us in certain
ways. So Jung thought there were many archetypes. For example the Mother Archetype can
orient us toward caring figures and to respond to being cared for (mothered)...The hero archetype
motivates us to take risks, excel in the eyes of others and propel ourselves forwards.This
archetype can be linked to social motives such as helping and rescuing others...(Gilbert, p. 95).

EMBODIMENT OF A COMPASSIONATE EXEMPLAR

I want to be the kind of person who lives a simple life, helping others, being in union
with nature, and feeling and deciding with my heart. It is difficult sometimes with the way
society is set up at this time. Yet, I feel that there is inspiration everyday for everyone to witness.
We witness it through stories, we see it in front of us, there are films and groups doing wonderful
things on this planet. The everyday heroes who are living a good and meaningful life are
everywhere, many times going unnoticed or overlooked as ordinary. These are the people I find
humbly heroic.

EMBODIMENT OF A COMPASSIONATE EXEMPLAR

10
References
Butler, F.M. (1922) Remarks on Jamaica, Vermont. The Tuttle Company Publishers, Vermont.
De Waal, Frans. (2009). The Age of Empathy: Natures Lessons for a Kinder Society. New York:
Harmony Books.
Gilbert, P. PH.D., (2009) The Compassionate Mind: A new approach to life's challenges.
California, New Harbinger Pulbications, Inc.
Lozada Poza, G. (2012). The Last Iceman of Chirazo: Retrieved 23, October 2015 from
(http://myhero.com/films/view.asp?film=Environment,%20ice)
Unitarian Universalist Association, Copyright 1996-2015. Retrived from
http://www.uua.org/beliefs/history/our-historic-faith
Worthen, M. (1976) Hometown Jamaica:A pictorial history of a Vermont village. Griswold
Offset Printing, Vermont.