Compassion means to feel what others are feeling – whether it is pain, fear or sadness, but also happiness and joy. Compassion is inside of all of us. It doesn’t matter how old we are, our gender, orientation, where we call home, which language we speak, if we pray or not or the colour of our hair, eyes or skin. We can show compassion for all others.

When we are acting with compassion, we treat others as we wish to be treated. We are being kind to ourselves, and all others including animals, nature and our planet. We are trying to make ourselves and all others feel strong and hopeful in order to create a world which is a more caring, joyful and respectful place for us to live. When we do good things for others we make them happy, and it naturally makes us happy too.

When we are acting with compassion, we are guided to keep doing whatever we can to make sure we are all treated fairly. We choose not to hurt others with nasty words, harmful social media, unkind facial expressions, or physical force. We say no to bullying of any kind. We accept and be ourselves and encourage others to do the same. We welcome and embrace the chance to learn from all others and celebrate our differences as well as our similarities. We feel connected to each other wherever and whoever we are and see this as a powerful strength.

From this moment on, we have the opportunity to:

• Make the decision to try and begin and end each day with compassion.

• Work to accept and respect each other’s differences in our choices, beliefs, abilities,

  religions, cultures and traditions.

• Choose to begin and end each day with a kind heart towards others and ourselves.

• Treat others as we would like to be treated.

  A compassionate, supportive and understanding world begins with me. I will make this promise to show compassion to myself and all others and play a part in making our world a more peaceful and happier place for all.