A Case for Compassion & Dignity at the heart of Human Rights

My window-sill this week

This week I have been reading a fascinating book by Trystan Owain Hughes called 'The Compassion Quest'. This book carries a strong universal appeal beyond the Christian pulpit and on to a secular readership because it engages in everyday moral issues that touches all our lives. The writer makes a compelling case for compassion at all levels of society and as I wrote in my Amazon Review of the book, 'anybody working within human rights and social justice would find an ally in this excellent monograph on compassion'. An extensive analysis and references from popular culture, and accessible literature makes the argument for compassion even more humane, and perhaps most importantly, understandable. The Compassion Quest has been recommended by none other than Tony Campolo, a spiritual advisor to former US Present Bill Clinton.

Later this month Law Specials would be featuring an interview with the writer asking him the following questions -

1. Are you arguing for a moral system grounded in the belief that the present set of laws that govern our everyday lives ought to take its authority from what compassionate people would recognise as moral virtue or morally compassionate?
2. Should the need for compassionate living require a more compassionate justice system? How could this be achieved?
3. From your experience of visiting prisons and engaging prisoners, do you believe that the penal system is rather more aimed at retribution rather than rehabilitation?
4. Are there individuals locked in correctional facilities who could be beyond compassion & should compassion be the basis of a penal system that reflects the pain and suffering of the victims?
5. In my experience, students of law or trainee lawyers often tends to have strong conviction on legal and moral issues. How could these convictions, which I sometimes see as a desire to 'undoing the wrongs', be maintained within the framework of a more compassionate outlook on life?
6. Does the technologically interconnected nature of modern living allow us to be more compassionate and concerned about human rights issues across the globe?  



The week's Twitter highlights had included wonderful interactions with the following from the legal community:

  @TheLawMap

#FF for lovely interactions and nice tweets this week to: 



@r3x68 @bri_girlingreen @totumtalks @scottlesner @dayV_j @debbiematthews1 @thejars @keithhardie 
@lilylivingstone @yyadiloh @belowcontempt @mesequere @lawscribes @lawvaughan @afc_policy 
@cutchswife @jackiepanter @katgallow @lawyerstan @khadimdurrani @awanipatel @beckettandco @nqobani_nyathi @swlawcouk @stjoeslaw @misspembers @bitofalegalgeek @profalanmaynard


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