There are moments in the life of an organization when two seemingly different events reveal a deeper truth about who we are becoming.
In the weeks ahead, the Charter for Compassion will join partners from around the world in two significant global initiatives. One commemorates one of humanity's darkest chapters. The other looks toward the future of democratic life. At first glance, they may appear unrelated. They are, in fact, part of the same story. Both ask a profound question: How do we create a world where every person's dignity is recognized, protected, and enabled to flourish?
For many years, we have spoken about compassion as a feeling—an inner response of empathy, kindness, and concern for others. Those qualities remain at the heart of everything we do. Compassion begins when we allow ourselves to be touched by another person's joy or suffering. As the Golden Rule teaches us, treat others as we would wish to be treated; imagine yourself in the other's shoes. Compassion is not passive, and today's world asks something more of us. Compassion must also become a civic practice.
By civic practice, I do not simply mean politics or government. I mean the daily ways we choose to live together. Civic compassion is how we welcome newcomers into our communities. It is how we engage in difficult conversations without dehumanizing one another. It is how we participate in our schools, neighborhoods, faith communities, civic organizations, and democratic institutions. It is how we respond when injustice threatens the dignity of another human being.
Compassion as a civic practice moves us from concern to responsibility, from sympathy to participation, and from witnessing history to helping shape it.
This understanding is reflected in two important events the Charter is privileged to help lead this year.
From August 5–9, we will join Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, a cooperation circle of the United Religions Initiative, together with many international partners, in commemorating the 81st anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Learn about Nuclear Prayer Day Celebrations Here.
For five days, people from every region of the world will gather through prayer, music, testimony, education, and dialogue to honor those whose lives were forever changed and to renew our collective commitment that nuclear weapons must never again threaten humanity.
The words "Never Again" have become part of our shared moral vocabulary. Yet "Never Again" is not simply about remembering the past. It is a promise to the future. It asks every generation to build the conditions that make peace possible.
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki calls us to mourn unimaginable suffering. But remembrance alone is not enough. The deeper challenge is to create cultures, communities, and institutions where fear, hatred, and dehumanization no longer have the final word.
That is compassion practiced in public life.
Just a few weeks later, on September 10 and 17, the Charter will again partner with Actionable Innovations Global to present Thrive2: United for Democracy and Global Action.
Around the world, people are asking difficult questions about the health of democracy. Many care deeply about their communities, yet they are uncertain where to begin. Which information can they trust? How can they bridge growing divisions? Can one person truly make a difference?
Thrive2 begins with a hopeful answer. Democracy flourishes when ordinary people participate.
Whether helping young people develop media literacy, attending a local council meeting, supporting trustworthy journalism, volunteering with a neighborhood organization, organizing around a community concern, facilitating conversations across differences, or simply showing up for one another, democracy is strengthened one relationship, one conversation, and one act of civic responsibility at a time.
Participants will move through a practical journey: Learn. Connect. Act. Report Back.
Rather than simply listening to presentations, they will discover resources, develop practical skills, build relationships, and leave with concrete actions they can take within their own schools, organizations, neighborhoods, and communities.
These two gatherings tell one story. The remembrance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki reminds us of the devastating consequences when compassion disappears from public life. Thrive2 reminds us how compassion returns—through informed citizens, courageous conversations, community participation, and people who refuse to surrender hope.
For the Charter for Compassion, both events arise from the same conviction: our common humanity.
Our work has never been simply about encouraging people to feel compassion. It has been about creating compassionate communities, strengthening relationships across differences, bearing witness to human suffering wherever it occurs, and helping people discover that they possess the power to improve the places where they live.
Compassion is not passive sympathy. It is an active commitment to human dignity. It asks us to listen before judging. To understand before condemning. To participate rather than withdraw. To build trust rather than deepen division. To recognize that every person, regardless of nationality, religion, ethnicity, race, or political belief, shares a common humanity deserving respect and care.
Peace is not merely the absence of war. Democracy is not merely the holding of elections. Both are living practices sustained by people who choose compassion as a way of engaging the world.
Perhaps this is the next chapter of the Charter for Compassion. Not moving away from compassion as a feeling—but allowing that feeling to mature into a civic practice. A compassion that is expressed not only in our hearts, but in our neighborhoods. Not only in our prayers, but in our participation. Not only in remembering those who suffered, but in helping create a world where fewer people will.
As we commemorate Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we renew our promise of Never Again. As we gather for Thrive2, we ask what each of us can do to help strengthen democracy, deepen belonging, and build communities where every voice matters. Together, these two events remind us that the future is not something that simply happens to us.
It is something we create.
One relationship.
One conversation.
One act of compassion at a time.
With warmest regards,
Marilyn
