Committed Conversations

For the Seeds of Compassion I thought it was just going to be one of those big events where you get to see the most respected people sharing their views and opening our minds so that we could make the world a better place to live.

This all changed when for the first time in my life I listened to the most powerful, encouraging and inspiring words ever to be said by any leader I have listened to. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama changed my understanding of what compassion is and made me realize that we tend to think about anger, hatred and how it effects us but we don’t pay attention to compassion and the role it plays in our lives. We focus on problems and challenges facing us today but don’t look at the things that people have done in order to make people lives better.

Our generation is filled with opportunities and all the materials that one needs to achieve his or her goals and dreams, and all we need is to have compassion. Compassion is not only being helpful and loving to the people around you. It also understands the potential that you have and how you can use it to help yourself and other people as well. Compassion is not only giving without wanting something in return, but it is also the feeling of human kind. To love, to be kind and friendly to all people that are in the community that you live in.

When I go back home I want to show the exact compassion that I have been shown in Seattle and be able to change people minds by showing love and making them understand what compassion really is towards friendship. For those who are involved in crime just because there’s no food at home I want to make them realize that there’s more that they can do to help their families and put food on the table without violence and anger. I would encourage them to ask for help because I know there are a lot of people who are willing to help.

In my school there’s a program that provides food for students who really need it, but many of them don’t go because they feel ashamed. I know how it feels because I also needed the food but didn’t go because I was also ashamed. I commit to going home and making a change. I want to show that we as a community can work together to help improve our lives, and I will start with having something to eat at school everyday so that others can see the compassion that I have for my self and be proud of who I am.

- The YouthVoice Team of Alyssa P, Alyssa S, and Kate interviewed the author and former boy soldier at Seeds of Compassion.

Seattle’s Salmon Bay student Ali and the visiting Tibetan (KT) and Guatemalan (Josefa) student ask each other questions sparked by this weekend’s speeches and discussions:

The Dalai Lama said his mother is the first person who showed compassion to him. What is the first time you remember showing someone else compassion? (Ali) Ali: When I was 3, my little sister Daisy was born, and my first recollection of being *compassionate is towards her *because I loved her so much. *Josefa: I remember when my sister started school, and I helped her so much with her work because she needed help and couldn’t do the work on her own. KT (from India) and Ali (from Seattle)

How can we personally change the world with compassion? (Josefa) Ali: I think we can change the world with compassion by making the world emotionally healthier and kinder place to live in. Everybody has to make a personal decision to do it; it won’t really work unless everybody decides they want to make the world a better place. KT: We can make the world more compassionate by making others aware of the bad relationships between countries – not just Tibet and China, but between all the countries. Josefa: The world will be more compassionate when you don’t have to worry about who you are, the color of your skin, if you’re millionaires or poor people.

How do you deal with a situation if someone is treating you badly, if you are angry? (question from the Youth and Spirituality forum) KT: If I’ve done something good to someone and they are ignoring me, I just act as if I can’t see it; I just go on. I still treat her well, because that way there will be more hope of friendship. Whenever you are angry or something bad has happened to you, that doesn’t mean you have to be mad at the person. (Is it more difficult when the behavior towards you is violent?) It depends on the situation. You can’t have a calm mind for all your life, then people might take advantage of you. Ali: I really like when he (HHDL) was talking about how if you have something that’s a really bad emotion you have to find the opposite of it to diminish the bad emotion, counterbalance it. It’s the way I try to deal with things. If one of my friends is in a fight with me, I try to spend more time with the people I really like and people I have not been in fights with, and then I’ll try to just put it behind me and go on in everyday life. But, like the Dalai Lama said today, that doesn’t always work. Josefa: If I have a problem, you have to confront it with calm like Ali said. If the person insults you, you have to understand them. Sometimes if we fight with people it can start to be a whole new problem. It’s important to understand what they went through before they said that thing – they could be having a bad day.

In one sentence or one idea, what was your biggest learning this week, or what will you remember the most? (Kristie) Josefa: What the Dalai Lama said: it doesn’t matter what society we are in, there is compassion and that is going to be the future of our world. KT: At the first talk (on Friday) he said that you must have a calm mind when practicing compassion. Also, the next generation will be the generation of dialogue – I don’t think I will forget it. Ali: When the Dalai Lama said that everyone is born with compassion, you just have to learn to tap into it.

The Seeds for the Spirit Benefit Concert was definately a night that I will not soon forget. The event opened with a short address by Civil Rights pioneer, Rev. Samuel McKinney. He was followed by Gina Salá who set up a situation for the audience to imagine themselves in, and began to sing, the crowd joining as well. Seeing the entire audience joining her in song was the moment I realized it was going to be a special night. Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier form Sierra Leone, came on stage next and shared some of his experiences and what he had to overcome. He spoke of the ability to transform things in one’s life that originally seem like a misfortune, and how that has greatly helped him throughout his difficult life. He was followed by Tingstad and Rumbel, Grammy Award winning musicians. They played extremely relaxing and soothing music, which was a nice transition after hearing about some of the horrible things that happened in Sierra Leone. Phil Borges’ photo and video presentation was, personally, my favorite event of the night. He presented many of his photos of people from different areas of the world, each with a story to match. It really helped the audience to see the hardships and see the experiences of peoples lives across the globe. He also introduced the organization he started, Bridges to Understanding, which is an organization to get young people across the world to interact with each other and communicate. At the end, a video created by kids from Africa about teenage pregnacny and single-motherhood, which was amazing. The final performance of the night was that of Yuval Ron Ensemble, and it was absoluely amazing. The Ensemble performed music from the Islamic, Christian and Jewish religions, and is made up of people of these religions, all working in perfect harmony. In the words of Sukhawat Ali Khan “If it happened here, it should happen all over the world,” speaking of the way people of all the different cultures worked together in such a harmonious way. Their performance brought everyone together in song, leaving everyone with a feeling of enlightenment and compassion.

-Jonathan Lien, Bellevue Hope

-Ben Derige