Who Practices Compassion?

   My search engine’s Compassion alert provides me with between 30 and 45 news stories, web links, and blog posts every day that open a window on the world of Compassion.

   One interesting part of getting this alert is to see the threads of compassion that run through our society.

   This one e-mail at the end of every day connects me with many different lives of people practicing compassion and making a difference.

   So who are all these people out there putting compassion in the news?

   National Public Radio writer Michele Kayal talked about delivering warm cinnamon rolls as an act of compassion for a friend whose dad had just died  (http://www.npr.org/2011/10/04/141013068/showing-compassion-through-the-gift-of-food).

   Friends, neighbors, and complete strangers are delivering food, building supplies, and other necessities to a town in South Africa that was ripped apart by a tornado, definitely an act of compassion (http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/free-state/ficksburg-victims-overwhelmed-with-compassion-1.1150558).

   A group in San Jose, Calif., is hosting a “Taste of Compassion” with a well-known area chef to raise money to help fight homelessness and hunger (http://events.mercurynews.com/san-jose-ca/events/show/217198364-taste-of-compassion-presents-winchester-chef).

Oklahoma schools are supporting “Rachel’s Challenge” anti-bullying campaign, which gains its name from a 17-year-old girl killed in the Columbine school shootings, who wrote in her journal: “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion then it will start a chain reaction of the same,” (http://westminster.patch.com/articles/national-anti-bullying-assembly-coming-to-carroll-county-schools-9ed5e3ec).

   A Canadian 17-year-old decided that thinking she was compassionate was different from being compassionate, and organized fundraisers to help with famine relief in East Africa, gleaning $1,100 toward the cause, (http://www.langleyadvance.com/Hunger+prompts+student+help/5498263/story.html).

   A Washington state community just finished a $380,000 renovation to their local Boys & Girls club that serves 250 at-risk youth in the area, which the local newspaper called “a community of compassion,” (http://www.theolympian.com/2011/10/03/1823541/boys-girls-clubs-illustrate-a.html).

   And these few articles represent just a sampling from the last two days.

   It's enough to give one hope.

   Everywhere, around the world, people are helping, caring, reaching out, and doing what we are designed to do: recognizing the suffering of other humans, and act to relieve that suffering.

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   For more on practicing compassion, go to: www.CompassionSpace.com.