Compassionate Living

Last night, I witnessed the unveiling of a new charter – the Charter for Compassion.  It calls us, people of faith, to compassionate living.  Karen Armstrong, author, thinker, and ethicist, spoke eloquently about the need for a revival of the golden rule – to do onto others what you would like done to yourself.  All the major religions, she said, hold compassion as a core value.  And for good reason, because in its essence, compassionate living means seeking the divine.  Acting with compassion, then, requires a reorientation of self that can only happen when we “dethrone our own egos,“ thinking of someone else in moments when we usually think about ourselves.

I didn’t feel the full impact of those words until this morning.  50 or so men sat before me, spread out across numerous tables like specks on a dappled egg.  It was 6am and they were waiting for breakfast. I asked Paul, the volunteer coordinator, “So, what would Charlie like me to do today?”  Charlie’s place is a homeless empowerment program.  It serves breakfast 4 days a week and offers other services as well, like clothing distribution and medical care, to the homeless community in DC. 

“Well,” Paul said, “I think Charlie wants you to sort through the clothes today.  Find a good home for all those coats and pants, okay?”

“Alright,” I yelled behind me as I ran up the steps, eager to start.  I started untangling the sea of multi-colored plaid, striped, and zig-zagged shirts swimming in the boxes at my feet, folding and putting them in piles according to size.  Many of the shirts had stains, coffee-colored veins running through starched collars. 

As I continued to sift through the clothes, I couldn’t help but think about my morning I-don’t-know-what-to-wear ritual.  Twenty minutes of zipping, buttoning, and tying, slipping into and out of sweaters and slacks, trying to find the perfect combination to accentuate an hour-glass figure.  Twenty minutes focused only on me and what I look like.  The guys, though, at Charlie’s place – they don’t have the luxury of a similar routine.  They wear what they’re given, stains and all.  Karen Armstrong’s words from the night before hit me full force, “dethrone your ego, live compassionately.”  Maybe living compassionately is as simple as spending twenty minutes praying for the marginalized, thanking God for the work happening at Charlie’s place, instead of spending it in front of the mirror.