The nuclear disaster in Japan is a horrific demonstration of the human species willingness to self destruct. Fukushima Daiichi tragically continues to release radiation onto an already brutalized population. According to an article written by Jim Turnure, currently the Environmental Policy Manager at Xcel Energy, “Neither Chernobyl or Three Mile Island emitted cesium in anything like the quantities that have likely already been emitted at Fukushima Daiichi. So we may be witnessing a Chernobyl every 2-20 days, perhaps every ten days as a midpoint.” 

In 2002 I travelled to India and Nepal to study Buddhism. I began with an organized pilgrimage called “Chasing Buddha” and ended up at a monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal called Kopan. The two month trip was a Buddhism intensive, immersion experience. A box of journals, books and various other articles from the trip had been packed away unopened until a few weeks ago when my parents finally cleared everything out of storage before moving across the country. 

Karen Armstrong’s article written in September of 2010 confronts the issue of hatred and intolerance towards Muslims after the 9/11 attacks. She writes, “In the United States, we have witnessed an upsurge of anti-Muslim feeling that violates the core values of that nation.” She points out that such religious intolerance threatens society as a whole, “If we want to preserve our humanity, we must make the compassionate voice of religion and morality a vibrant and dynamic force in our polarized world. We can no longer afford the barbarism of hatred, contempt and disgust.”

                                                    In my opinion, small acts of compassion can alleviate some suffering but ultimately do not contribute to a lasting compassionate society. Compassion is not a new or recent concept. Suffering seems to grow exponentially in proportion to population and throughout history acts of cruelty and abuse seem to match acts of kindness and overwhelm them. Moreover, I believe that there is no amount of alms giving, volunteering, charity work or tree saving that’s going to change the momentum of our self-centered society. The dominant social paradigm reinforces competition and individualism which is reflected on an individual level thus selfishness and disregard for the welfare of others are values that are rewarded. In our society a gain for one often means a loss or less for another.