How Compassionate Is Your City?

By Thea Tragni

The Compassionate Action Network International has the power to declare a city “Compassionate.” Started in 2008, “acclaimed scholar and best-selling author Karen Armstrong received the TED Prize and made a wish — to help create, launch, and propagate a Charter for Compassion.” Based in Seattle, CAN encourages and chooses cities all over the world as compassionate based on a certain set of criteria.

There are six cities in the United States that are confirmed compassionate including Appleton, WI, Basalt, CO, Lake County, CA, Louisville, KY, Millbrae, CA, and Seattle, WA. Gaziantep, Turkey and London Ontario, Canada are the other two confirmed compassionate cities outside of the USA. 78 candidate cities and regions are in the running. They are all vying for the next place to be confirmed compassionate.

Danbury, Connecticut is not listed as one of those 78 cites, but Paul Steinmetz, the university spokesman says that there is a campaign in process to confirm Western Connecticut State University as the second compassionate university in the USA. “We must get approval from the university senate.”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama will speak on Oct. 18 and 19 at Western Connecticut State University, and the public is invited to a free showing (video simulcast) in the Ives Concert Hall, 181 White St. To help promote this opportunity, WCSU students in the Writing, Linguistics and Creative Process Department's Advertising, Copywriting and Promotions class created a Twitter page. and they are writing this blog daily.