What are the A, B, Cs of emotional life? The best answer I have heard is Attention, Balance, and Compassion. A lot has been written about mindfulness as an ingredient or prerequisite for compassion. Mindfulness sounds like something magical, but it really is intense attention or attentiveness. Think about it. Isn't attention the essence of empathy, which is the first step of compassion?

Click on this link to watch a 13 minute talk by Daniel Goleman on why we sometimes do not act compassionately even though we are so inclined. He said it is because we may be self-absorbed and do not take  notice of the suffering around us. In other words, we are not in a state of attentiveness or mindfulness. Here is his short talk for the TED series:

http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_goleman_on_compassion.html 

Alice Herz-Sommer is the oldest Holocaust survivor in the world and this month she turns 107. She is the subject of a new documentary to be released in a few months. In the mean time, you can see and hear for yourself, in the YouTube trailer below, her vitality, her love of beauty, her skill in playing the piano, her laughter and joy in living.

Alice serves as a paragon of the triumph of the human spirit.

The first time you watch this video you will see Alice as remarkable for all of these things, but look also for her compassion and caring for others and her refusal to hate. Note how she cared for her son in the death camp, how she organized a choir, and how she maintains relationships with close friends. In short, she is a template for the passionately compassionate life.

 Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity" will go down in history as a gigantic comedic success. A Google search today for the Rally got 8 million hits, compared to Glen Beck's "Rally to Restore Honor," which only got a million hits.

Fans numbering 150,000 gathered on the National Mall for 3 hours, with millions more viewing it on cable TV. The huge crowd laughed and cheered as Stewart and friends poked fun at angry political pundits, fear-drenched political messages, and  partisan gridlock.

But just before closing, Jon Stewart gave a passionate 15 minute speech raving against political animosity, fear, and media exaggeration. American people, he argued, "work together and get things done every damn day. And the only place we don't is here (pointing to the Capitol Building) or on cable TV." Read the full text of the speech here.

Reading the best-selling fantasy-horror-suspense novel The Taking by Dean Koontz began as an accident. Normally I would not be caught dead reading a story of aliens slaughtering most of life on earth. But the author is a poet and a philosopher. Repeatedly, he pushed me into a state of reflection about the meaning of life in conditions of horror,  disaster, death, or destruction. From working in funeral homes during college days, I know how being surrounded by death sparks reflection. There are some similarities between reading this book and living in a mortuary.

In Chile, 33 minors remained trapped a half mile (two-thirds of a km) underground for nearly 70 days while the world watched on television. Millions around the world watched the rescued miners hugging family members, hugging Chilean President Sebastian Pinera (see photo), and literally jumping for joy.

News stories told about how miners compassionately helped each other underground while the world felt compassion for them and their families. In addition, the rescuers, journalists, and politicians proclaimed the rescue a triumph in technology, organization and good will.

9/11 was a historic human tragedy, but we extend the tragedy by using it as an excuse for ongoing anger.  The stories of the Quran-burning threat from Florida and the pressure to move an Islamic center away from Ground Zero spread around the world like fire this past week. No doubt they will continue for at least a few more days. Or they might start World War III.

 If you have been looking for a way to help in the Pakistani flood relief, the following letter from Elias Amidon, a friend of a friend, suggests how to do it. Check out more about Elias Amidon on the website: http://pathofthefriend.org/ He and his wife spend most of their time learning and helping in the middle east. Here is a letter from Elias Amidon on  August 22, 2010:

China's Premier Wen Jiabao, unlike other aloof Chinese leaders, shows up at national disaster sites to comfort the people. In this, and in other ways, he relates to the people at all levels, showing the compassionate side of the Chinese dictatorship.
The BBC New today ran a story about the controversy over the book written about Premier Wen Jisbao. Premier Wen Jiabao was described as "compassionate."

"The worst disaster ever seen," said the UN Secretary General today, and he has seen many huge disasters around the world: the Haiti earthquake, Katrina, and the big SE Asia tsunami.

Over 15 million are already estimated affected, and it is still raining. Already reports include deaths from starvation and estimates of huge numbers ill from unsanitary water.  Three weeks have gone by and the American media seem to give more time to discussing the political and military implications than the humanitarian need. Reports of both public and private aid seem meager, especially in comparison to Haiti and Katrina.