Compassion

Some crash victims are not to blame, I am writing in response to the July 6 letter “The Crest as self-cleaning oven.” The author refers to the tragic crashes on Angeles Crest Highway as Darwin's natural selection at work, dubbing the highway a “self-cleaning oven.” While it's true that sometimes people deserve the consequences of their actions, we often forget about the innocent by¿standers who suffer the same fate and the anguish inflicted...

Poetry that two classes at Columbus Elementary School read to the school during assemblies Thursday focused on the meaning of compassion. But it was the way the students of different ages and abilities collaborated to put on the show that provided the real example of compassion, some said. Sixth-graders in Gail Dunham’s class and first-, second- and third-graders in Sheila Monger’s class for students with special needs presented a program featuring student-written poems about compassion, which is the word of the month for the Glendale Character and Ethics Project.

Green hands cut from construction paper were clustered on a bulletin board in the Valley View Elementary School auditorium to form a fir tree. It may be just 7 feet of paper, but the students at Valley View see the tree as a symbol of compassion. Children tacked ornaments of many colors, with deeds of compassion written on them, on the tree Thursday morning. They call it their "hand"-made holiday tree and it's part of an ongoing program at Valley View to help the fourth-graders recognize and contribute to compassion in their everyday lives.

I just stumbled across a Mailbag article, "Heck, why not make poor live in camps, wear an 'L'?" by James M. Nelson, where he apparently responded to a Mr. Beall and Mr. Shelton and berates them about the "poor ... their moneyed betters ... the unfit ... the needy ... capitalism ... the free market ... illegal immigrant labor ... and our collective pocketbooks." Although I didn't read anything of such pernicious tone that I could recall from either Beall or Shelton, Nelson seems to have said it all in some vacuum of thought.

What is happening with our teens in this generation? I have worked with adolescents for years as a youth pastor and therapist. My personal and professional experience with teens has been thoroughly enjoyable. I appreciate each of these unique individuals. But this past week I witnessed three encounters in public settings that left me saddened. I want to state that these incidents did not happen in our community. I also understand that mental illness can cause individuals to behave in a way that may not fit societal norms.

This week’s C.V. Sun All-Star is Kathryn Thamasian, a first grader at Valley View Elementary School. Kathryn is a caring, compassionate child with a heart for others, according to her teacher, Vie Nazarian. “Kathryn is an enthusiastic and energetic young girl who is alert, bright and always ready to learn and take on new challenges,” Nazarian said, adding, “She reaches out to people in and outside of school and she enjoys helping people.” One way the child has helped others is by recently donating 14 inches of her hair to Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for children who have lost their own hair through illness.

More than a dozen children from Roosevelt Elementary presented a $1,000-check to the Burbank Temporary Aid Center on Tuesday — the fruit of a month-long focus on compassion. Pedro Torres, a client services manager for BTAC, accepted the check on behalf of the nonprofit on the playground of Roosevelt Elementary School. He said the money will contribute to sack lunches that the center distributes daily for the homeless. They include water, crackers with tuna or chicken. “We buy cereal, peanut butter and jelly, canned soup — basic stuff that goes right into their stomachs — the most basic need we have,” Torres said.

Mayor already treats council as full-time job Why am I not surprised that Mayor Bob Yousefian wants to make being on the City Council a full-time job? He has spent his time in office "teaching" everyone everything. One certain incident that sticks in my mind still is when he held forth with a monologue during a meeting to explain to the public what the difference between a republic and a democracy is. He probably wants to commit full-time to teaching the citizens of Glendale the knowledge we lack.

When I read your April 17 editorial titled "Bigotry drives flag debate," I felt sad and discouraged. I would like to see everyone in Glendale treated with dignity and respect -- and labeling people's behavior as "bigotry" does not move us closer to this goal. In every ethnic group in Glendale, there are some who feel anger toward other groups. But, I suspect, if you look beneath their anger, you will find fear. Fear by some that the city is being taken over by foreign cultures and values, and that their way of life has been changed forever.

As the country remembers Sept. 11, Muslims in the Glendale/Burbank/Pasadena area remember and mourn as well. Our feelings are represented in the following prayer: Dear God, as our country remembers the heartbreaking events of Sept. 11, 2001, we humbly turn to You in prayer. At a time where our nation is facing unprecedented challenges, we need Your spirit, mercy and strength, now more than ever, to guide us down the right path. Dear Lord, we pray that you have taken under Your merciful wings those who innocently perished on that tragic day. We are grateful they were once a part of our lives.

Some crash victims are not to blame, I am writing in response to the July 6 letter “The Crest as self-cleaning oven.” The author refers to the tragic crashes on Angeles Crest Highway as Darwin's natural selection at work, dubbing the highway a “self-cleaning oven.” While it's true that sometimes people deserve the consequences of their actions, we often forget about the innocent by¿standers who suffer the same fate and the anguish inflicted...

More than a dozen children from Roosevelt Elementary presented a $1,000-check to the Burbank Temporary Aid Center on Tuesday — the fruit of a month-long focus on compassion. Pedro Torres, a client services manager for BTAC, accepted the check on behalf of the nonprofit on the playground of Roosevelt Elementary School. He said the money will contribute to sack lunches that the center distributes daily for the homeless. They include water, crackers with tuna or chicken. “We buy cereal, peanut butter and jelly, canned soup — basic stuff that goes right into their stomachs — the most basic need we have,” Torres said.

I was engaged in a very interesting discussion last night about the nature of compassion and its ability to positively shift the energetic force of our world. I, for one, believe our thoughts are extremely powerful — even more so when a group of people gathers a single collective thought in their mind, especially a positive one. This isn’t to say I believe thought alone does all the work. Positive thought or intent leads to positive action, which leads to positive change. So what’s with this week’s “new-age philosophical rant,” you ask?

Seda Batmanian, a counselor at Chamlian Armenian School, knows her students, and her students know basketball. So when she started talking about Miami Heat forward LeBron James and his first game back in Cleveland, where he would face his former Cavalier teammates, their attention was piqued. Cavalier fans donned T-shirts with angry messages printed on them and booed their former hero, Batmanian recalled. But one Cavalier player, Antawn Jamison, walked across the court and shook James' hand.

G lendale filmmaker Carly Lyn chose the unlikely pairing of genres — Western and science fiction — in her new film "A Foundling." Lyn, 25, wrote and directed the film receiving its premiere at the Dances with Films festival next week in West Hollywood. Another twist was the casting of two Asian actresses in the lead roles. It was all these elements that piqued the interest of film festival producers, said Leslee Scallon, co-founder of the festival. "We are looking for films as interesting for as many minutes as they are on the screen," she said.

Recent local disasters like our wildfires — and worldwide disasters like the devastating brush fires, dust storms, floods, prolonged drought, storms and cyclones in Australia, tsunamis hitting Samoa and earthquakes striking the Indonesian island of Sumatra — have raised the need for financial assistance to support charities. However, in an article in the Christian Science Monitor this week, UNICEF Australia spokesman Martin Thomas fears there is a danger of “compassion fatigue,” that is, “so many instances of death and destruction seen on the TV news can produce a kind of emotional numbness.

What is happening with our teens in this generation? I have worked with adolescents for years as a youth pastor and therapist. My personal and professional experience with teens has been thoroughly enjoyable. I appreciate each of these unique individuals. But this past week I witnessed three encounters in public settings that left me saddened. I want to state that these incidents did not happen in our community. I also understand that mental illness can cause individuals to behave in a way that may not fit societal norms.

This week’s C.V. Sun All-Star is Kathryn Thamasian, a first grader at Valley View Elementary School. Kathryn is a caring, compassionate child with a heart for others, according to her teacher, Vie Nazarian. “Kathryn is an enthusiastic and energetic young girl who is alert, bright and always ready to learn and take on new challenges,” Nazarian said, adding, “She reaches out to people in and outside of school and she enjoys helping people.” One way the child has helped others is by recently donating 14 inches of her hair to Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for children who have lost their own hair through illness.