A year ago last month, Karen Armstrong came to Tanenbaum’s office in New York with representatives of TED. She applauded our work and the work of hundreds of other organizations putting the Golden Rule into practice. As a winner of the TED prize, she explained, she wanted to help promote our efforts as part of a global conversation about compassion – an active, essential ingredient of every major religion.
Tomorrow, the Charter of Compassion will be launched through 175 events in 32 countries. From the initial handful of non-profits like Tanenbaum, the initiative has grown to include 125 international partners. At 9:30am EST, Karen will publicly read for the first time the Charter for Compassion at the National Press Club in Washington DC.
For our part, Tanenbaum has created a new Shared Visions on compassion, spelling out text by text how the world’s religions share this core value.
It’s not the beginning of something new. It’s the deepening of something truly important that we’ve known for a long time – compassion, the Golden Rule, acting together for one another – is the way to live well. Now spread the word!