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Has The Word 'Compassion' Lost Its Meaning?

Part 2 of the TED Radio Hour episode Just A Little Nicer.

About Krista Tippett's TED Talk

Journalist and broadcaster Krista Tippett argues that overtly saintly and sappy connotations have made us lose touch with the true meaning of compassion — so she proposes a linguistic revival.

About Krista Tippett

"Compassion is not necessarily about agreeing with somebody else ... it is about making a choice to honor their humanity."

Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and New York Times best-selling author. She grew up in Oklahoma, the granddaughter of a Southern Baptist preacher.

She graduated from Yale in 1994 with a master's degree in divinity. While conducting an oral history project for the Benedictines of St. John's Abbey, Tippett began to imagine radio conversations about the spiritual and intellectual content of faith.

"Speaking Of Faith" launched in 2003. It became "On Being" in 2010. In 2014, she received the National Humanities Medal at the White House for "thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of the human existence."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

NPR/TED Staff
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