As we're getting ready for the inaugural Love This Place! Serve the Earth Week coopetition, from April 18 through April 26, we are excited to introduce some of the “players” that will be participating. This is an extremely diverse group including teams from Portugal, Peru, United Kingdom, Italy, and cities in the United States and Canada including Detroit, Michigan, Syracuse, New York and Seattle, Washington. Interfaith Works is the team in Syracuse, New York that participated in the February...
Love The Hell Out of Metro Detroit: From the Blame-Shame Game to the Compassion Games
In the early sixties, in the thick of the Civil Rights movement, at the Voters Rights office in Alabama, Andrew Young was about to step outside into the parking lot to meet members of the Ku Klux Klan. Mr. Young, appointed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to head the voters rights effort, and has since gone on to become Mayor of Atlanta, US Congressman, and Ambassador to the United Nations, received a call thatthe KKK were coming and that he might want to carry a gun. As he headed out the door...
Solving Wicked Problems with the Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest
(Header Image: "New Pioneers" from Mark Hensen) At a time when religiously motivated violence seems to be more horrific and terrifying than ever, what would it take to transition our world to one of interfaith harmony and peace? It may seem pollyanna to wonder and idealistic to even ask if such a thing is possible. In a world permeated with intolerance and acts of hatred in the name of religion, how could we come to be in peace and harmony with one another? What would that take? A 21st century...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Mass Collaboration for Compassionate Action
Tomorrow is the day to dedicate our attention to the future of our planet. People from all over the world are coming together in solidarity recognizing the urgency of the situation and this unique moment of choice. What kind of future do we want for our children and our children's children? Everyone has a voice and everyone matters. The world needs to hear from you. This is a moment to stand up for what's right, to stand up for our future, to stand up for peace and compassion. Our precious...
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,...