Compassion Jar

 At school last week we had a Compassion Assembly.  Students from my school have been collecting supplies for a school in Sierra Leone - so we celebrated that.  Also, my class - the only class in the school - won the prize for litter-less lunch day.  We demonstrated caring and compassion for the earth and its creatures by creating no garbage from our lunch and snacks.  We also watched a slide show with pictures of students and pictures they drew of how to be compassionate.  


When mom came to pick me up from school that day, I told her I was still thinking about the Compassion Assembly so we talked some more about what compassion means.


Now that I am 5 and I get allowance, one of the things I can do is give some of my allowance to charity - or to people who might need it more.  Mom says that because I earn it myself, I can choose what to spend my allowance on.  She says it's a good idea to spend some, save some and put some aside for charity.


So when I got home from school after the assembly I asked mom for a jar with a lid.  Then I went and put some of my allowance money in it and I told mom that this would be my Compassion Jar.  I can put part of my allowance in it if I want and then when there is a lot, we can give it to charity.  I was really proud to show mom my idea for a Compassion Jar.  


When I showed mom my jar, she told me about one of the neatest bits about compassion.  She said that when you are kind and act with compassion towards other people, that will make compassion grow in the world.  If someone is kind to you, then you feel more like being kind to others.  I thought about that for a while.


(I secretly put some more coins in my jar, then asked mom to come and see what had happened).  I showed her that somehow, because I had put money in the Compassion Jar, it had grown and there was more money in it!  Mom said my compassion was wonderful and she wanted to be part of it, so mom put some coins in the jar as well.  


Before we know it, we will have a lot of money to help other people out.  Because I  know that we are very lucky and there are lots of people in the world who don't have as much as us.

"The Begging Bear"