Dialogue Promotes Living with Compassion
Keynote speaker Christopher Kukk expounds on the importance of connecting with others
Sacred Heart University’s Dr. Susan L. Davis, R.N., & Richard J. Henley College of Nursing (DHCON) recently presented “The Art of Living Compassionately,” a dialogue about the importance of living life connected with and caring for others.
Keynote speaker Christopher Kukk, author of The Compassionate Achiever, took the stage after an introduction by Karen Daley, dean of the DHCON. Kukk, who is the Wilma Register Sharp & Marc Boyd Sharp dean of Cormier Honors Colleges for Citizen Scholars at Longwood University in Farmville, VA, told the SHU audience that compassion drives success.
It is a theme he highlights on his website, stating, “Many people―too many― seemingly believe that you have to take a ‘survival of the fittest,’ self-centered approach to life in order to achieve success. Statistical surveys and daily headlines tell us that we are living in an increasingly callous, uncivil and self-absorbed world. If you look under the headlines and deeper into the science, however, all the empirical evidence shows that success is not only greater but more sustainable when achieved through a ‘survival of the kindest’/compassionate approach.”
In The Compassionate Achiever, published in 2017 by HarperCollins, Kukk writes that people have been told for decades the key to prosperity is “to look out for number one.” Yet, he argues, recent science shows that “to achieve durable success, we need to be more than just achievers; we need to be compassionate achievers.”
He said compassion connects people to the world around them. “Compassion is a wave that becomes a tsunami that can change the world,” he said. “Compassion is a noun and a verb. It is more than something you are: it is something you do. So go out and unleash compassion so you can achieve success.”
Kukk’s discussion opened a dialogue that takes place annually at Sacred Heart, aiming to promote and spread compassion. This year, it comes on the heels of a pandemic and in a time of racial unrest and war.
After Kukk’s presentation, SHU panelists discussed their takes on the importance of compassion. Sabina Porcaro Petillo, a physician and wife of Sacred Heart President John J. Petillo, served as the moderator, and the panel comprised of Buddhist Chaplain Venerable Shim Bo, Brent Little, assistant professor of Catholic studies and senior nursing student Halle Boucher ’22.
Concluding the talk, Boucher said, “In every single class, I am shown compassion or am taught to show compassion. My professors always ask about me personally, rather than just about my academics. It is a great reminder for when I am with my patients to see that they are more than their illness and that I need to show them compassion.”
Pictured, from left, are Karen Daley, Christopher Kukk, Brent Little, Sabina Petillo, Venerable Shim Bo and Halle Boucher.