a sense of empathy - is one that I find myself appreciating more and more as I get older. It is at the heart of my moral code, and it is how I understand the Golden Rule - not simply as a call to sympathy or charity, but as something more demanding, a call to stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes. Like most of my values, I learned about empathy from my mother. Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope
It has been a while since I posted an article to
Opednews. Previously I posted articles about 'what are progressive values'
and the 'failure of conservative values'. My exploration of progressive values
has lead me to the key role that empathy plays as a basic progressive and human
value. For the past year I've been exploring this value and how we can go about,
Building a Culture of Empathy. America has tried a Culture of Greed and
Selfishness, it didn't work.
Alan Greenspan, a big proponent of the Culture of Selfishness said, "I found a flaw in the model that I perceived as the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works,"
We tried a Culture of Corruption, that didn't seem to work out -- and we're paying the price for that now. Maybe it's time to try a Culture of Empathy and Compassion?
In one project, I went through all of Obama's
speeches and pulled out the sections where he talks about empathy.
I've complied this into a 2 hour video. After seeing this video, it's quite
clear to see that Obama campaigned on building a Culture of Empathy.
I also just sent out my Empathy Cafe: Building a Culture of Empathy and
Compassion newsletter. I hope to post some articles here on Oped news
about empathy in the coming weeks.
Edwin
