TEDPrize & PSCS Shout Out!
TEDPrize recently shined a major spotlight on the 2013 Compassion Games. Read below for an excerpt of the TED.com article, which highlights the chairman of Compassionate Seattle, Jon Ramor, and features a special shout out to Andy Smallman, the Secret Agents of Compassion, and PSCS!
For the full article click here: TEDPrize
An Interview with Jon Ramer, Compassion Games Founder
By Starla Sampaco, Senior Host, What’s Good 206
The Compassion Games are a series of actions inspired by the Charter for Compassion. Founder Jon Ramer, who is also the executive director of Compassionate Seattle, conceived the games in response to a friendly challenge from Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher. Fisher declared “Louisville is the most compassionate city in the world until proven otherwise. “Seattle responded, and the two cities were the first to compete in the games, which resulted in a tie.
This year’s games ran from September 11 – 21st, ending on the International Day of Peace. The games have gone global and include 18 cities from Seattle to Gurgaon, India. Anyone, anywhere could participate. There are four ways to play: service learning projects, random acts of kindness, secret agents of compassion, and events.
Each city collects points for compassionate actions, and these points are tallied up to declare the most compassionate city. The objective is for communities to collaborate and widen the circle of compassion through collective impact. In doing so, communities accomplish more together than any individual or organization can do alone. The games promote a safer, kinder community and encourage positive social connection.
On Wednesday, September 11th, the Seattle Compassion Games kick-off event took place at Cleveland High School. What’s Good, 206? – a group of Seattle youth using video to promote social change—showcased videos produced by high school students from our annual youth media camp. I caught up with Jon Ramer, the founder and “1st First-Follower” of the Compassion Games, to discuss the 2013 games and what inspired them. Here’s excerpts from our interview:
SS: So tell us, what are the Compassion Games?
JR: It’s a global competition [cooperative competition] that takes place from September 11 to September 21…so communities around the world are cooperating to compete not against each other, but with each other…The vision of a global “coopetition” is communities striving together to create a more compassionate world, one community at a time.
SS: I saw on CompassionGames.org that people can get involved by being “secret agents of compassion.” Could you tell us about that?
JR: Shhhhh it’s a secret, okay? Well Andy Smallman lives here in Seattle. He started the Puget Sound Community School and has taught kindness online for many years. He is really the visionary behind this. Each day during the games, the secret agents will receive a mission to go out into the community and perform an act of kindness. Andy guides folks in different kinds of examples of these missions like…well I don’t want to give it away because it’s a secret, but these are things that you can do anonymously.
One of the beautiful ways of giving to others is to do things without seeking any credit or any recognition in exchange. Each day you’ll receive a mission if you sign up [at www.compassiongames.org] to be a secret agent of compassion. You can perform these random acts of compassion and put them up on the Compassion Map, and that’s one way others can learn and see what you’ve done and become inspired by it…
To read the rest of the article click here TED Prize
Click here for more info Starla Sampaco and What’s Good 206?