Children's Charter for Compassion

When we act with compassion, we treat others as we wish to be treated. We show kindness. We show understanding. We try to make others feel better. We put others before ourselves.
If we want the world to be a caring, respectful, and happy place to live, we must all practice compassion. Who are those others? Family, friends, classmates, teachers, neighbors, teammates, coaches, and even those we do not like or see as our enemies. We must also treat ourselves with love, kindness, and respect. When we are happy, we can make others feel happy.

When we act with compassion, we get a warm feeling in our hearts. That feeling guides us to keep doing whatever we can to make sure all people are treated equally and fairly. We must never hurt others with nasty words, unkind facial expressions, or physical force. When we act with compassion, we let others be themselves. We welcome and embrace the chance to learn from others and to respect and celebrate our differences.

From this moment on, we have a great responsibility:
• We must begin and end each day with compassion.
• We must always treat others as we would like to be treated.
• We must begin and end each day with a kind heart towards others and ourselves. Kindness leads to kindness and others will follow.
• We must respect each other’s differences in behavior, intelligence, religion, and tradition.

A compassionate, unselfish, and understanding world begins with you. Make this promise to yourself. Promise to try to show compassion to everyone you see every day, and help make the world peaceful and happy for us all.











Text Copyright © 2010 by Erin Henry, The Children’s Charter of Compassion. All rights reserved. No part of this Charter may be used, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without prior written permission from Erin Henry, Executive Director, Children’s Charter of Compassion.