Who would have thought we’d have needed to write a blog post defending empathy as a good thing? But here we are… We all thought empathy is an indisputably positive trait, but Elon Musk is here to set us straight. He was on the Joe Rogan show recently (2/28) where he expounded on his belief […]
To quote probably the most-often quoted opening line in literature: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” In this case, for empathy. Lookin back at 2022, what first comes to mind is the growing movement worldwide for LGBTQ+ people. As Charles Dickens continues on in his opening sentence: “it was […]
“Ally.” It’s a buzzword you hear frequently. People who are white, heterosexual, male, Christian, etc. want to be allies to those who are in a more marginalized or oppressed group. But how? In this month of June, as we celebrate both Juneteenth and Gay Pride, let’s think about that. The first steps are listening and […]
There is a line between laughing at someone and laughing with someone. That line is empathy. Normally I wouldn’t do this, but today I would like to share a personal post that I put on Facebook yesterday: When one goes to post on FB, it says “What’s on your mind?” So I am going to […]
It is tempting to think that one is expanding one’s empathy for others by, for example, listening to a podcast by a person of color and extrapolating from that to assure oneself that one now has empathy for all people of color. And sure, it is a step on the road to expanding one’s empathetic […]
It feels like people often think about empathy in terms of understanding other people’s pain, suffering or hardships. And that is an important component. The #MeToo movement asks us to listen to women’s experiences of being sexually harrassed, assaulted or debased, and to try to understand their feelings and how this has affected them. Black […]
I have been thinking lately about how empathy goes hand-in-hand with respect. You can’t really say you have empathy for someone, or for a group of someones, if you don’t give them the respect of taking what they say about themselves and their experiences and their preferences as true, because it is their truth. People […]
Has the pandemic increased or decreased empathy in our lives and our world? As usual, the answer seems to be, both. At the local level, within our own neighborhoods and communities, we are seeing outpourings of compassion for those we know and live with. Empathy is strengthened by connections, so when we see on our […]
I recently saw the movie, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Also, I have been living through the last weeks of life for my 92-year-old father, who has terminal cancer. These things turn out to be connected. It hit me that I have grown up with Mr. Rogers, essentially. My dad is strikingly similar to […]
We hear a lot these days about how tribalism is increasing–us vs them, reds vs blues, etc. Along with this, we hear calls from governmental leaders, including the president of the United States, to embrace nationalism. In fact, President Trump takes a general attitude that it’s the U.S. vs the rest of the world, and […]