We are at war with empathy, understanding and tolerance. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Chris Hedges, said that, and, in my opinion, he is on to something we would do well to consider––seriously––right now. Our future, at least one form of it, may depend on it.
I would hasten to add that this is an unconscious war, one that separates us not only from each other, but from our sweet selves. If I cannot, due to the incessant dialogue I hear between my ears, provide a comforting embrace to myself when I feel sadness, fear and confusion, how on earth can I give this to a friend in need?
The problem is not the precarious state of the world’s and our personal financial status; the problem, as Hedges continues, is the human heart.
It is from our vast, but neglected hearts that empathy is born, the willingness to set aside, for the moment, our own issues, to recognize, identify and feel into another’s joy, pain or suffering. When we allow ourselves to identify (Fr. "regard as the same") with another, our hearts open wider, letting all that sunshine in on what was a dark, disrespected space. Warmth is a decidedly welcome transformation to what felt like a cold, lifeless heart.
The problem is not how we got ourselves into this mess or who is to blame, but our willingness to understand that we always have at our disposal an infinite array of solutions, historically documented by the discovery of two polio vaccines that all but eradicated poliomyelitis in the 1950s. Or consider the invention of the long-lasting, practical light bulb by Thomas Edison, assisted by his staff of brilliant engineers. Edison trusted it was just a matter of time before the solution would emerge, encouraging one of his frustrated, young engineers to take heart one day, after hundreds of failed attempts, when he said, “I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
The problem is not the few, seriously confused and distorted humans from the Muslim faith who have inflicted unspeakable violence against others, both here and abroad, but in our diminished level of tolerance of another’s faith, skin color, indigenous cultures and unique perspectives. Were we all to look and act and think the same, the rich possibilities within diversity would be lost. Think for a moment if every flower in the world looked like a white daisy, or if the only tree covering the planet was a 20’ date palm or the only kind of dog was a Chihuahua. Personally, I rather like the three dog versions (Cocker Spaniel, pit-bull/yeller dog, and a one-eyed black and white cattle dog) who cohabitate with me.
The absence of global empathy, understanding and tolerance we numbly watch every day on our television screens is but a macrocosmic reflection of the blighted microcosmic level of kindness, love and compassion we see when we look into the mirror in our bathrooms every morning.
The world will not be healed until we are willing to begin the healing inside our very own hearts.
What can you do––today––to increase your levels of empathy, understanding and tolerance for another human being?
It all starts with you… and…
you have nothing to lose.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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