An important part of empathy is connection. We make a connection with others, whether directly, or through reading or viewing or other means. What if we connected with more others–not just humans, but other living beings? Animals, certainly. Our home (that is, our planet) would be a much better place if we responded to animals with empathy–our […]
There are lots of ways to gain empathy for others. There’s the media—books, TV, movies, online videos, podcasts. There are the people we meet—co-workers from different cultures, students at the university we are attending, neighbors down the street who maybe put up a menorah in their window in December instead of a Christmas tree. The […]
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 […]
Shortly after Roe v. Wade went into effect, I was sitting at the kitchen table with my mom and my grandma. I asked them what they thought about abortion. As I expected, my mom said she thought it was wrong. But my grandma surprised me when she said she was in favor of legal abortion. […]
“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 […]
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 […]
As we come to the end of a very difficult year, 2020 stands out as a time when we lost an extraordinary number of souls who should not have departed this Earth this year. We remember and honor those who lost their lives to the global Covid-19 pandemic. We remember and honor those who lost […]
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 […]