Letters from a Young Radical

Seeds of Compassion, April 11th - 15th
FRIDAY, APRIL 11 – DAY OF REVIEW AND LEARNING

From Knowledge to Compassion Action: What We All Can Do
His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be joined by leaders in compassion and empathy to discuss how parents and educators can bring compassion into the lives of children and families.

I'll be going to this event at Seeds of Compassion tomorrow! This convention has tons of really intriguing panels and speakers. Lucky for us, they're webcasting something for all 5 days. It's really great timing for me, as I've been having this slightly epic discussion on Nature vs Nurture. The theme of this convention is "providing the fundamental foundations for happiness and success in children, their lives and the society they live in", and helped me realize that it's not just one or the other, Nature OR Nurture, it's the Nature OF Nurture. There is a scientific basis for the assertion that our environment while growing up has an incredible impact on us, rather than, as a non-religious friend of mine said, the idea that "some people are just born bad and aren't worth trying to help".

You can see how much I'd be set off by such an individualistic statement. In any case, I'll take notes at the discussion (if I'm not going all buddhist fangirl on His Holiness), and post more on this topic later, including more of my thoughts on the epic discussion.