When two or more are gathered…

Sitting on the Compassion Bench: Brenda Frank, 

Special Assistant to the Mayor, Vanessa Hurst, 

& Dr. Muhammad Babar, Compassion and 

Community Laureate.

What happens when two or more are gathered?  

I discovered the answer at the 4^th Anniversary Celebration of the Partnership for Compassionate Louisville. When two or more are gathered, the positive power of compassion burrows past differences and creates community. 

Yesterday, I experienced the spontaneous creation of community.  As each person stepped across the threshold into the room, the presence of compassion in the room grew.  An incredible lightness of being filled the room.  The atmosphere became one of excitement, joy, and happiness.

Community was formed without words as the each person’s spark of compassion jump from one person to another igniting collective compassion.  The energy of compassion was palatable.  I could feel it surge from the confines of the room and out of the building.  Who knows where compassion went and what our collective compassion transformed?

Boundaries disappeared as we smiled at one another.  It didn’t matter how we shared compassion  — as individuals, non-profit organizations, for profit businesses, churches, or as part of other groups — we became a community sharing compassion in many ways.  We all heard Compassion’s call and responded by celebrating.

Thomas Merton talks about choosing to be with others in a crowd or in community.  Yesterday, we chose to be a community of compassion.  As we left the room, the invisible lines of community remained.  We left as Compassion’s emissaries.

What happens when two and many more gather?  Yesterday, the potential for radical change through compassion exploded sending forth a legion of compassionate agents of change.  Who knows where compassion will show up in the next days, weeks, and months as we edge closer to Anniversary #5.

How will Compassion show up for you, in you, and with you?

Vanessa

Vanessa is a Compassion Catalyst, author of Engaging Compassion Through Intent and Action, and a member of the Coordinator Circle of Compassionate Louisville.

www.intentandaction.com