NEW COMPASSION WITH A KIND RIGHT HAND

A new compassion has made its debut. And proved my Mom was correct.

She believed most problems could be solved by slapping sense into whoever needed it.

As one of her four kids, just hearing her theory was enough.

Her career included managing a DMV office. (Keep that in mind the next time you complain about the service.)

But what is this new compassion? Let’s start with the old compassion:

“A feeling of wanting to help someone who is sick, hungry, in trouble, etc.“

So it’s a ‘feeling’ of wanting to do something? And that’s enough?

When thoughts and prayers aren’t quite enough, what’s next?

Action comes next, my readers, compassionate action.

But start by listening to one of the world’s most compassionate figures.

Twitter is one of the Dalai Lama’s platforms. He says practice compassion. Ten thousand people agree. Almost three thousand people spread his words to their people. In three hours.

Is it enough? Just saying “com-PASH-ion” should make you feel something.

Coming from him makes it an open question for reflection; the same from someone like me would pull three hearts. Maybe.

What if the same compassion message came from someone like you?

We’ve all heard it by now: “A person is defined by their actions more than their words.”

“I’m going to do this,” doesn’t get it done, but it leaves room for planning with a new compassion.

Since it’s not a competition, don’t stress if you and the Dalai Lama are not similar as you’d like to be.

He’s a tough act to follow; a tough job for a tough man.

New Compassion For Aging Celebrities

Was this taken after the Dalai Lama saw Richard Gere in Days Of Heaven?

Someone needed to take a poke at him for doing a vanity western in 1978 where the leading man changes clothes a lot and never gets dirty.

Or was it after watching the American Gigolo – Pretty Woman double-feature at the the local cineplex?

It had to be Days Of Heaven. The other two would take more pugilistic training to fix.

This is a video breaking down Muhammad Ali’s skill set.

Why not learn to float like a butterfly and sting like bee? It’s a very naturalistic approach to conflict resolution.

Who else needs to go a few rounds with the Dalai Lama? Anyone on your A-list for the new compassion?

Ben Affleck would benefit.

Gaga Gets A Tune-Up From Old Compassion

This is an encouraging right hand for avoiding a Madonna II career.

Everybody wants to be Madonna, but there’s only one Madonna Louise Ciccone.

Lucky for us there can only be one Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. How lucky?

Gaga and who she appears with might seem like calculated career moves, but I sense a common spirit with the Dalai Lama.

Question: What are your commitments?

Dalia Lama Answer: In general, I always state that I have three commitments in life. Firstly, on the level of a human being, my first commitment is the promotion of human values such as compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline. All human beings are the same. We all want happiness and do not want suffering. Even people who do not believe in religion recognize the importance of these human values in making their lives happier. I remain committed to talk about the importance of these human values and share them with everyone I meet.

Lady Gaga seems committed to more than her last release or last movie. She’s taken a ‘stewardship’ role for her generation, and better yet, a stewardship for past and future generations.

Inter-generational is the road to lasting fame, and who reaches out better than someone who’d fit in the Roaring Twenties, a Berlin Cabaret 30’s, a USO frontline entertainer ’40’s?

This from eleven years back makes me think of a distant future.

The Give And Take, And The Give

Anthony Dominick Benedetto

No one in popular American music has recorded for so long and at such a high level of excellence than Tony Bennett. In the last ten years alone he has sold ten million records. The essence of his longevity and high artistic achievement was imbued in him in his loving, childhood home in the Astoria section of Queens where he was born on August 3, 1926. 

Gaga? The Stats:

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, born on March 28, 1986, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, New York City. Both of her parents have Italian ancestry.

Tony and Stefani, a couple of local kids singing on the corner on the way to world fame.

Why does it matter to me? I’m not so much a fan appreciation guy as I am at the ease in which Gaga slips into different roles. Lady Gaga or Chameleon Gaga? Caring Gaga and Aware Gaga.

The tenderness in her pictures with Tony Bennet feel more protective than I expected. It’s a look you hope to recognize from the people in your life, right?

(Looks around the day after Thanksgiving)

That’s the look, the Gaga Gaze. Practice for new compassion starts now.

Pass it along with a kind right hand.