“Kindness is much more than just being nice, kindness is the weaving that makes a fabric of a compassionate community.”
Columbian Centre’s Annual General Meeting for 2012 was held on Tuesday June 26. Tom Grauman, the executive director, shared some thoughts about the culture of kindness that is fostered at Columbian Centre.
Earlier this month, 50 of us gathered in this very place in loving memory of resident Murray Glover. Murray had lived at Columbian Centre since 1996. He suffered many difficult experiences in his life, including arrest, detention, unfulfilled dreams, and separation from family. But probably his greatest suffering was empathic – despite his own troubles, his heart went out tenderly to people who had misfortunes. He humbly offered them his help and it was often received with surprise and deep appreciation. Through it all, Murray was a loving and kind person. Which brings me to another person making news this month…
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner is the Burmese non-violent activist, Aung San Suu Kyi. She, like Murray, suffered for decades, including arrest, detention, unfulfilled dreams, and separation from family. She was not even able to be present for her husband’s death. Yet through it all, Suu Kyi, like Murray, has been a loving and kind person. Following is an excerpt of what she said at her Nobel Prize acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway just a week-and-a-half-ago, on June 16.
“Of the sweets of adversity, and let me say that these are not numerous, I have found the sweetest, the most precious of all, is the lesson I learnt on the value of kindness. Every kindness I received, small or big, convinced me that there could never be enough of it in our world. To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others. Even the briefest touch of kindness can lighten a heavy heart. Kindness can change the lives of people.”
“I think Murray and Suu Kyi help us to cut to the chase on what fancy terminology like psychosocial rehabilitation actually should mean in behavioural terms”
As is the case in any professional field, we use plenty of jargon. In our case, we use presumptuous terms like psychosocial rehabilitation. I think Murray and Suu Kyi help us to cut to the chase on what fancy terminology like psychosocial rehabilitation actually should mean in behavioural terms. I believe that, day in and day out, night in and night out, the Columbian Centre community succeeds at being a group of people who culture a commitment to being kind to one another. Murray, in his inimitable and noble way, reminded us of our common humanity and we thank him and the rest of you for that. I hope that this meditation into Murray’s humanity, provides an apt description of the way we routinely conducted ourselves at CCS in this past year, the 34 years preceding this past year, and the way we will conduct ourselves in the years ahead.
For the record, in this past year, more than 50 different people resided in Columbian Centre houses. If one estimates conservatively that the lives of five friends and family members per resident are immediately impacted by the support provided at Columbian Centre, it becomes evident that hundreds of lives people’s lives are eased in a given year. Not to mention the many ex-residents who routinely stay in touch, stop by, have a meal, and participate in some of our programming. And not to mention, the reduction of suffering, the avoided hospitalizations, etc. Kindness is much more than just being nice, kindness is the weaving that makes a fabric of a compassionate community.
Thank you.
