On Empathy and Elections
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: ON EMPATHY AND ELECTIONS
One thing you cannot teach past a certain age and point in life is — EMPATHY.
Empathy is instilled early. Perhaps it’s something we’re born with (or without).
Empathy means “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” Some people have it. Some people don’t.
Empathy stems from being fully human, and more precisely — humane. I’m writing of empathy and being humane with other people, with animals, and with our planet. It means engaging in an act of kindness simply because it’s the right thing to do. It means intervening on behalf of a suffering animal that cries out for our help. It means cleaning up after yourself whenever and wherever possible and letting the natural ecosystem flourish for future species and cycles of life to come long after we’re gone. Protecting our environment now under our watch might even be the supreme act of humane empathy, serving responsibly as temporary caretakers of the earth for future generations, though we will never know them.
Humanity, caring, love, communal responsibilities — these are all foreign concepts to the supreme individualist, the selfish xenophobe, the exploiter of others for personal gain, the Ayn Rand libertarian, the liberty hawk, the Second Amendment wacko, and the MAGA patriot that denies man-made climate change during the hottest summer ever recorded on this planet and yet continues to scream out, “drill baby drill.” All actions, all motivations, all thoughts and ideas are about THEM, always about THEM, rather than US, ALL of us. Social responsibilities community service, shared common deeds and goals are alien concepts to the rugged individualist. But I say cooperation is far preferable to competition (which is the essence of liberal political thought–and for this we’re labeled as the radical Left).
We CANNOT teach kindness. We CANNOT teach how to love an animal. We CANNOT teach thinking about the earth’s resources as precious and limited. We CANNOT teach empathy. Those with such a void will never understand and for this they should be pitied.
I’m particularly mindful of EMPATHY during this election cycle and the fact that one set of candidates and political party *has* it, and one *lacks* it.