Saturday, November 15, 2008

Charter for Compassion - An Exception?

A neighborhood friend forwarded a link today. As a rule, I don't forward links, but for this one I'll make an exception.

A Charter for Compassion is an ambitious effort that taps into that side of human beings we call "dreamer". Usually, "dreamer" means it can never happen in the real world, but this one might be the exception.

In the words of the email message:
At TED2008 in March of this year, TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong was granted a wish to change the world. This is what she asked for:

"I wish that you would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect."

Since then support for idea has built among numerous religious groups, spiritual leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, and Britain's first female Rabbi Julia Neuberger have joined a special Council to oversee the Charter, and Kluster, a collaborative decision making platform, has built a groundbreaking site that will allow anyone to contribute to the Charter.


Universal justice and respect. That would be exceptional.

This is certainly much bigger than riding bicycles, but wouldn't compassion and universal respect smooth over many of the conflicts between cyclists and motorists?

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