Compassion and Community Building - according to Rich Harwood

Rich Harwood has put some of the major concerns he has heard from people across the nation into a new book to spark conversations on what we need to accomplish to rebuild stronger communities, stronger connections among people and new ways forward in what I might call here the American Dream.

Rich has written THE WORK OF HOPE with funding from the Kettering Foundaiton, which has funded much of the work that has built to this current reflection of thinking of people across America. In getting into his book, I have been using Facebook and this forum to share some ideas hoping others will go to the book to see how what Harwood is reflecting compares to their own thoughts and feelings.

In the third chapter he discusses some of the key values noted in the community discussions and he starts with the idea of Compassion. This is one snippet from the chapter:

What does it mean to be compassionate and for compassion to en-

gender a sense of hope among people? The answer, is that more people

must be willing to step forward and be in relationship with others—to see

and hear one another, to acknowledge each other’s pain and aspirations,

to know that we cannot go it alone in life. Then compassion can be a

guiding force for the nation and produce the hope people yearn for. 

 

The ebook is a great resource and one that will allow a quick read and much more time for consideration of the content.