
The city of Fremont has set
the bar. Let us work together to create a
Compassionate Bay Area.
I
challenge you to affirm that this is a Beloved
Community in which we live by starting a campaign to
make your town or city a Compassionate City.
- Contact
the grassroots organization that created the
Compassionate City campaign in Fremont and pick
their brains. There is no need to reinvent the
wheel. They did the heavy lifting; exploit them!
- Create
a petition for folks in your town or city to sign,
urging your city council or other governing entity
(in Bay Point it is the Municipal Advisory
Committee, or MAC) to adopt a Compassionate City
campaign.
- Do
not just enlist individuals. Go to businesses.
Design and print a flier describing how a
Compassionate City is a Prosperous City. It is a
more livable city, a more pleasant city — good for
business!
- Send
letters to every church or religious or faith group
(this includes indiginous peoples and ethical
humanist groups) in your community, ask them to join
the campaign. If they are a Christian church, they
are commanded to preach and to live compassion. It
is a charge of their faith tradition. Jews are
commanded in both Isaiah and Micah says that the
Lord commands us to “… live justly, love mercy and
walk humbly with [our] God.” Muslims are commanded
to defend “people of the Book,” meaning Christians
and Jews. Contemporary Muslim theologians suggest
that all who practice the virtues of Islam —
charity, mercy and compassion — and acknowledge the
one-ness of God, Allah or however one expresses or
regards the Divine is a person of the Book. Any
faith tradition that teaches what we know as the
Golden Rule is a compassionate tradition.
- Ask
any peace or social, economic or environmental
justice group you know or are connected with to join
in a coalition to make this so.
The
above are simple, modest points of action. Here are
two links to the Charter For Compassion folks:
The
Compassionate Community: https://charterforcompassion.org/communities
Charter Toolbox: https://charterforcompassion.org/charter-tool-box-a-framework-for-getting-started
Peace
with justice,
Shakurallah Daniel Zwickel ben Avrám MacJean
(son of Jean, son of Abraham
and grateful for the many blessings of Allah)
Daniel@PeaceHost.net
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