Compassion helps us in tough times and encourages meaningful connection—and it’s something Cape Town needs more of, Nic Paton wrote in a recent opinion essay published by the Mail & Guardian. Nic, an advisory board member for the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative, has allowed us to excerpt his essay below.
It is just more than a month since South Africa bade farewell and lala uxolo to our beloved Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, a champion of peace and common-sense humanity and spirituality. In his wake, we are coming to terms with the fact that the champion of the deep values of unity, justice and compassion — in a word, ubuntu — has passed the baton to us, the people.
Among Tutu’s many legacies, one that stands out as being of utmost relevance is his contributions to what became the Charter For Compassion. Tutu’s interfaith work with the 14th Dalai Lama was instrumental in the creation of this document, launched globally and in Cape Town in 2010. The charter urges all people and religions to embrace compassion, focusing on the Golden Rule: “Do to others as you would have them do to you”. This simple awareness forms a solid basis for morality, and the potential for genuine unity between faiths.
Be sure to read Nic’s full piece on the Mail & Guardian website.