by Susan | Apr 2, 2014 | essay, inspiration
At the beginning of our weekly staff gathering yesterday, Ann Helmke, the peaceCENTER’s director, told us that all the traffic lights went out downtown. We leaned forward in our chairs, primed for a gory story of traffic snarls, blaring horns, some Texas-sized...
by Susan | Mar 18, 2014 | essay, inspiration
Cathy Rosenthal writes a column about animals for the San Antonio Express-News. Today she answered a compassionate question about the care and feeding of feral cats. Compassion moves us to feed them. Knowledge informs us that there is a better solution: Dear Cathy: My...
by Susan | Mar 13, 2014 | Compassion Metrics, essay, inspiration
I’m a numbers nerd. Compassion is not just a matter of being nice It’s making sure that there is a safety net for our city’s most vulnerable citizens. It’s about infrastructure, and it can be measured. If you are a fan of the quantifiable...
by Susan | Mar 11, 2014 | essay, inspiration
The quotation that accompanied this graphic is from Joseph Campbell: “If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor.” When the peaceCENTER — the catalyst for Compassionate San Antonio — was founded almost 20 years ago, we used the work...
by Susan | Mar 5, 2014 | essay, inspiration
Twice a month the peaceCENTER has an evening potluck/staff meeting/re-centering and Narjis brings a crockpot of homemade soup, often made with produce from her community garden. “What is it this time?” I asked her, greedily. “Burnt flower soup...
by Susan | Feb 26, 2014 | essay, inspiration
Here at Compassionate San Antonio we direct most of our efforts into having San Antonio recognized as a world-class compassionate city. We realize, though, that a compassionate city is made up of compassionate people, compassionate neighborhoods, compassionate...