Stories for For Others

An Interfaith Pep Talk to Overcome the Impossible

An Interfaith Pep Talk to Overcome the Impossible

A Rallying Call for World Interfaith Harmony It’s well-known that for untold eons, human beings have fought each other in the name of their God or gods. But there is more to this story… As historian and TED Prize Winner Karen Armstrong points out, wars are and have always been political and economic in nature, used to gain land, resources, and power. Why, then, do people tend to blame religion for wars? Armstrong writes that religious ideologies were often reshaped by political and economic...

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3.7 Million March: An Urgent Call to Rally for Unity & Peace

3.7 Million March: An Urgent Call to Rally for Unity & Peace

Dear Friends and Allies of Compassion, The world is stirring. Every now and then an event occurs that shocks us, and with it appears an opening for something new to emerge. Right now, we are at such a moment. The 3.7 million people who marched in the streets of France - who locked arms with our world’s leaders - are what French officials are saying was the largest street demonstration in the country's history. And they weren't protesting the attacks... they were rallying for unity. "I'm fed up...

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Kites for Peace

Kites for Peace

November 18th -December 7th   Fly a kite today for Peace! Kites for Peace was inspired by the 13,000 kites that children of Gaza flew in 2011 to break a Guiness World Record of simultaneous kite flying. What started out as a creative response to the death of children in Gaza and Israel during the Israel-Hamas war last July 2014 has blossomed into an emerging global action creating spaces for children’s voices to be heard through simple child-inclusive compassion circles in schools and...

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Silicon Valley Interreligious Council and Carry the Vision Bring the Compassion Games to Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley Interreligious Council and Carry the Vision Bring the Compassion Games to Silicon Valley

We shall be a mighty kindness. - Rumi (and the Carry the Vision conference brochure) I was invited to introduce and help launch the Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest at the Carry the Vision 9th Community in Compassion Conference that took place in Silicon Valley on October 19th 2014.  It was amazing! Carry the Vision Executive Director, Shelly Swan and her team took great care of me and all the participants who gathered that Sunday to “awaken the heart of compassion” the theme for the...

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Compassion in Prison Year Two: Let Them Eat Cake!

Compassion in Prison Year Two: Let Them Eat Cake!

The following article was written by Compassion Games Head Coach Sande Hart -- Energies and attitudes are high at the California Institute of Women’s (CIW) 2nd Annual Compassion Games.  Last year, Rev. Shayna Lester, a volunteer chaplain, first heard about the Compassion Games at a SARAH meeting (a women’s interfaith group that I co-founded) and knew this belonged at the women’s prison where she leads a Jewish learning group.  After getting the approval from the warden, she quickly convened a...

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A Compassionate Response to Ebola

A Compassionate Response to Ebola

Ebola is certainly in the news and everyone is having to respond to this terrifying threat. The 2014 Compassion Games team known as “Fearless” are living up to their name. After hearing about a fundraising effort on The Shift Network’s Summer of Peace program, they decided to raise funds to support education and outreach in response to the recent Ebola breakout in West Africa. The "Alliance for the Earth" initiative is a part of the Liberia Peacebuilding Project, an organization helping the...

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2014 Leaderboard Results!

2014 Leaderboard Results!

Ta Da!! We have updated the 2014 Leaderboard with the numbers for this years games. We've gone through every report that was submitted for every day of the Games. Although the whole spirit of the Compassion Games is playful and fun, we take your efforts to report on your acts of compassion seriously. Of course, whoever played in the games and did or didn't report was a winner, and with that said let's get into the numbers. When accountants deliver "the numbers" they usually also prepare a...

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We don’t know where we are going but we know we are on our way

We don’t know where we are going but we know we are on our way

”We don’t know where we are going, but we know we are on our way,” answered Reverend Gerald Durley of Providence Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA when asked “where is this compassion movement going?” While we don’t know where we are going, we know it’s good, we know it’s safe, and we know we are suppose to be headed there. So, we keep on keep’n on and do it with great love, and lots of fun. And, what’s more, is we have a map to get there! However, like a conventional map, where the lines are...

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Wow! 2014 Games Are Behind Us, Now it’s Time to Celebrate and Share!

Wow! 2014 Games Are Behind Us, Now it’s Time to Celebrate and Share!

Wow, what an amazing closing day for this years breakthrough Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest! As you know there were convenings happening all over the globe celebrating a world of connected communities. There were hundreds of thousands of people out in the streets in New York City for the People’s Climate March as well as thousands of gatherings in solidarity with the March, and around the world people were also celebrating the International Day of Peace and the last day of the...

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Susan Russell: “We ARE Community” – Real Change News Seattle Vendor of the Year

Susan Russell: “We ARE Community” – Real Change News Seattle Vendor of the Year

For those of us that live in Seattle we are painfully aware of the challenges of the homeless and those who are poor in our community.  One of the best homegrown solutions is a publication called Real Change News.  Real Change is a weekly progressive street newspaper based in Seattle written by professional staff and sold by self-employed vendors, many of whom are homeless. Homeless people commit to sell the paper around town and are able to split the income as a way to gain employment,...

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