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As a result of my studies,
I found a thread,
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that the essence of religion
was compassion.
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That every single one
of the major world religions --
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Judaism, Islam, Christianity,
Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism ...
-
they all insisted on what's often known
as the Golden Rule:
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never treat others as you
would not like to be treated yourself.
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My wish was that you would get
a panel of activists
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and together, we would craft
a charter, a brief statement
-
reminding the world that this
is what religion is about.
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[Great big story
in partnership with TED]
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Narrator: They had a big idea
to change the world.
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But they couldn't do it alone.
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(Voices overlapping)
So, my wish ... My wish ... I wish ...
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And now, here is my wish.
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[Torchbearers]
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[Ideas in action]
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(Shouting, fire crackling)
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KA: Our nations seem
to be crumbling by the day.
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And this should make us uncomfortable.
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We've all got huge problems in our cities.
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Problems of inequity
and cruelty and violence.
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So, what can we do?
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What can we do to change things?
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Every city has to be compassionate.
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And people often ask me,
what should a compassionate city be like?
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And I said,
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"Well, a compassionate city
should be an uncomfortable city."
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One is Louisville, Kentucky,
where the mayor, Greg Fischer,
-
actually campaigned
on the idea of compassion.
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[Greg Fischer, mayor of Louisville, KY]
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Greg Fischer: When I announced
compassion as a city value,
-
it got a lot of attention.
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A city is a platform
for human potential to come alive.
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Compassion makes individuals stronger
and makes our city stronger.
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KA: People just can't call themselves
a compassionate city,
-
unless they've got a practical
course of action.
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GF: So the questions then is,
how do you bring compassion to life?
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How do you change
the culture of your city?
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What if you could start at the beginning
of a young child's life?
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(Clock ticking)
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My name is Megan Clem Mattingly.
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I am the Compassionate
Schools Project teacher.
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Compassion is a very teachable thing.
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OK, I see a lot of friends
who are looking ready.
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Every CSP class begins
with calming and focusing.
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And then we have some sort
of core practice that we're doing
-
whether we're talking about
self-awareness or empathy-building skills.
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We are starting at the ground level,
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we're building that foundation
for our students at age five and up,
-
to be more compassionate citizens.
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Kid: Leave me alone!
MCM: Jeremy.
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Look at Miss Madeleine, Jeremy.
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Jeremiah: Just go, count me out.
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MCM: Jeremiah, we're going to try harder
to get our self-regulation back, sir.
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Jeremiah: This is the second
reason I hate my life.
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MCM: Jeremiah, come here,
I need you to tell me more about that.
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MCM: Anger or frustration,
which feeling was bringing --
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Anger, I can tell. Look at your hands.
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So, before we talk about it,
can you calm yourself down?
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No? it's hard to, isn't it?
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Can you try to make your hands
look like mine?
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Look.
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Can you try to let go of that?
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Look at your face, I see a smile there.
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You're trying real hard
to hang on to that anger.
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I see every day these changes
happening in these students.
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And I have all the hope in the world
-
that this project
will change our education.
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GF: We define compassion as respect
for each and every one of our citizens
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so that their human potential
is flourishing, thriving.
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(Many voices) Grant me the serenity
to accept the things that I cannot change,
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the courage to change
the things that I can
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and the wisdom to know
the difference, just for today.
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Keep coming back, it works.
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GF: Hotel Louisville is a great example
of how to think about a whole system
-
of getting a person back on track.
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So it's a shelter
for women and their families,
-
but it's also an operating hotel.
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Cynthia Brown: Hotel Louisville
was not just a women's rehab facility,
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it is a workforce program.
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We run the hotel, we do all the jobs here.
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Every job that one of us has
has their own individual skills.
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It gets us a sense of responsibility,
-
because we can put this
on our resumes when we leave.
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I think the compassion really comes
from the girls that are in the rehab
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because we depend on each other a lot.
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We need each other.
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(Overlapping voices)
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If I was not here at Hotel Louisville,
I would be sitting in jail, doing my time.
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I was given that chance.
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And I just -- I want to live,
I want to live life.
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[Remind yourself: You can do this
You are a good person]
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GF: It lifts us all up to say,
this is the kind of city we are,
-
and this is the kind of city
we aspire to be.
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And that any way we can help other cities
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and take us to even greater heights
is what we want to do.
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It's this ripple effect;
we're not perfect as a city,
-
but boy, we're working
to be better every day.
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KA: Here you have a city which
is doing great things with compassion.
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Cities and mayors are going to play
an important role
-
as leaders of the future.
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I'd like to see a thousand
compassionate cities in the next decade
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that remind the rest of the world
what our duty is.
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Always treat all others
as you'd like to be treated yourself.
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[Share and sign
the Charter for Compassion]
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[CharterForCompassion.org]