LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors approved and presented a proclamation on Tuesday that includes a call to county residents for renewed respect and compassion.
Supervisor Denise Rushing, who asked for the board to consider the proclamation in support of the Lake County Charter for Compassion, presented it on Tuesday on behalf of the board.
The local charter is part of a larger, worldwide effort that noted religious scholar Karen Armstrong launched. At its center is a document – now translated into more than 30 languages – that organizers say “transcends religious, ideological and national difference,” and is supported by many leading thinkers from many traditions.
In 2008, during her acceptance speech of the Technology, Entertainment, Design Prize, Armstrong stated her wish to create the Charter for Compassion.
“Modernity is exceedingly violent,” she said.
At its heart, the document activates the Golden Rule, traditionally stated as, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” or, as the organization explains, using “empathy – moral imagination – to put ourselves in others' shoes,” acting toward them as we would have them act toward us, and behaving in a way that does not cause others harm.
The Golden Rule, notes Armstrong, is difficult. But it's part of her call to move beyond toleration in order to arrive at appreciation for one another.
Accepting the proclamation from Rushing Tuesday was Pastor Shannon Kimbell-Auth of United Christian Parish in Lakeport.
Rushing said the idea for pursuing the proclamation came about as a result of observing last year's bitter local political campaigns and the increasingly degrading comments on the Internet.
She said the community has done very well and can do better in how its members treat each other.
“Our board is a good example of a board that can work together even though we disagree,” she said. “I feel very strongly that we respect one another and are able to work together.”
Rushing read the proclamation, which, quoting the charter, explains that compassion lies at the heart of all ethical and spiritual traditions.
The proclamation calls on all county residents to put compassion back at the center of interactions with one another.
“Compassion is essential in human relationships and a fulfilled humanity,” Rushing said.
In accepting the proclamation, Kimbell-Auth emphasized how important compassion is. She referred to a recent Board of Supervisors meeting she attended in which the board discussed a proposed ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in the county.
“I was so disheartened, not by the issue, but by the way the people in the room were treating the other people in the room,” she said, recalling boos, hisses and derisive laughter. “It was appalling.”
Kimbell-Auth referred to the US Civil War – which is marking the 150th anniversary of its beginning this year – and the lack of compassion apparent at that time in history.
“Every cause that led to the Civil War is present in our community today,” she said, pointing not just to a lack of compassion but to a belief that political ideology is more important than community.
The divisions were so severe 150 years ago, she explained, that churches and communities broke up along political lines.
“There was no moral compass that guided people as a whole,” she said, and nothing to unite around, “and it fell apart.”
She added, “One hundred and 50 years later, it's easy to see that those wounds have not healed for a great many people.”
Kimbell-Auth said the Charter for Compassion is not about being Christian or non-Christian, or being a Republican or a Democrat.
“It's simply about recognizing that we are each of us human, and we have lost this recognition,” she said. “We're more involved in the labels than the people.”
The county needs more compassionate people if this is going to be a community where people want to live, she said.
Kimbell-Auth suggested the charter be posted at public places like local high schools.
Responding to her observation about the medical marijuana dispensary meeting, Board Chair Jim Comstock agreed. “It wasn't very compassionate a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty ugly.”
More about the Charter for Compassion can be found online at www.charterforcompassion.org and at www.facebook.com/CharterforCompassion .
The local effort's site is located at http://lakecountycompassion.blogspot.com/ and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-Charter-for-Compassion/178350588854966?ref=ts .
The charter, as presented to the Board of Supervisors, is published below.
Lake County Charter for Compassion
Whereas, the principle of compassion lies at the heart of all ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves; and
Whereas, compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and put another there, and to honor the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect; and
Whereas, it is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others – even our enemies – is a denial of our common humanity.
Therefore, the Lake County Board of Supervisors Proclaims and calls upon all residents of Lake County to restore compassion to the center of morality, to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate, to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions and cultures, to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural diversity, to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies; and
Be It Further Proclaimed that we urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic and ideological boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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