“Compassion manifests itself in the world not by thinking but by doing.”
Find out more at The Charter for Compassion.Org.
- Are you interested in an event of historical significance?
- Are you interested in the one concept that ties all religions together?
- Are you interested in ensuring that all students graduate as compassionate human beings?
- Does being compassionate bring with it a responsibility to act on the “desire to alleviate another’s suffering?”
- Would sharing this post with educators and students be a reasonable first step?
Wikipedia offers a credible comment on the word compassion.
Compassion is a human emotion prompted by the pain of others. More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another’s suffering. It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the social context as altruism. In ethical terms, the various expressions down the ages of the so-called Golden Rule embody by implication the principle of compassion: Do to others what you would have them do to you. [Mathew 7:12]
On February 28, 2008 Karen Armstrong won the TED Prize and she wished “for help creating, launching and propagating a Charter for Compassion.” Here is what she had to say.
Since then she and many other people with the same interest have been working to develop the charter. It was a web 2.0 read-write process for anyone interested from throughout the world to come together online to communicate their stories and ideas on compassion. Over 150,000 people contributed to the process from over 180 countries.
On February 24, 2009 a multi-faith, multi-national Council of Conscience convened in Vevey, Switzerland to compose the charter using the contributions received.
Twenty months after expressing her wish, and with a lot of help from many friends, Karen Armstrong’s wish will come true. A wish that many people now embrace as their own. On November 12, 2009 the Charter for Compassion will be unveiled.
CHARTER FOR COMPASSION TRAILER from TED Prize on Vimeo.
Find out more at The Charter for Compassion.Org.
Dennis Richards
Superintendent
Retired, but still a Learning, Creating, Teaching
dennisar at gmail dot com
Crossposted at:
innovation3.edublogs.org