A Crisis of Empathy
| A little over two weeks ago, a conversation on homelessness came up on a major television network. The hosts began to talk about people experiencing homelessness who refused services. One of the hosts said, “Either you take the resources that we’re gonna give you, or… you decide… you gotta be locked up in jail.” His co-host responded, “Or involuntary lethal A little over two weeks ago, a conversation on homelessness came up on a major television network. The hosts began to talk about people experiencing homelessness who refused services. One of the hosts said, “Either you take the resources that we’re gonna give you, or… you decide… you gotta be locked up in jail.” His co-host responded, “Or involuntary lethal injection… or something. You just kill ‘em.” Gratefully, there was enormous uproar about the comment, forcing the co-host to apologize. But stunningly, he wasn’t fired for suggesting the state-sponsored murder of tens of thousands of mentally ill people. Bloomington now has a local social media page dedicated to the hatred of homelessness. I won’t name it because any attention you give it will help it to grow, but it actively depicts people without homes in horrible ways, takes photos of people sleeping outside and in compromising positions, and generally blames them for everything they perceive to be wrong with our town. On Friday night, two major violent incidents took place in Bloomington – both directed at people without homes. The first was a group assault, where two men attacked and beat up two people without homes, badly injuring one of them. The second was a murder. A person got out of his car and shot and killed a homeless person. There is no doubt in my mind that hateful and violent rhetoric leads to these violent acts. I believe strongly that our culture, our society, is struggling with a crisis of empathy. The truth of the matter is I think we’re scared. I think we’re very scared. And the worst part of it, we’re scared of each other. It’s a little silly, but the ever-wise Yoda really helped us understand this when he said to the young Anakin Skywalker, who would become the dreaded Darth Vader (sorry, spoiler alert): “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.” And not just our suffering, but the suffering of others. Fear drives out our capacity to open to each other… which is the absolute heart of empathy. How do we understand one another? How do we care for one another… if we are consistently afraid of each other, closed off from one another, protecting ourselves from one another? I would argue that empathy is perhaps the oldest and most vital moral value we have. Perhaps our greatest moral teaching is an axiom of empathy: the Golden Rule, which has been expressed in every culture and spiritual tradition: In Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you would find hurtful.” In Confucianism: “Do not unto others what you would have them do unto you.” In Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty: Do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.” In Islam: “None of you [truly] believes until he loves for his brother that which he loves for himself.” In Taoism: “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.” In Zoroastrianism: “That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself.” In Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.” In Christianity: “Do unto others what you would do unto yourself.” Or my personal favorite: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The core of each and every one of these phrases is to get ourselves to extend ourselves out… to feel into the other, to take their perspective into account, to see them as just as real, valuable, and vital as you yourself are. Philosopher Iris Murdoch said, “Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.” Chew on that for a bit. Such a powerful quote. When I struggle with how to lead my life, I look to the greats over time. I take courage from the moral wisdom keepers throughout the ages. I seek to live as they did, knowing they are the light guiding us home. One of those greats is the beloved Hoosier, Kurt Vonnegut. He advised us: “Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.” If you’ll permit me, to that I say, Amen. |