October 25--Considering Empathy

Few people, very few, have a treasure, and if you do you must hang onto it. You must not let yourself be waylaid, and have it taken from you.  --Alice Munro

    This dives into the realm of "what is your treasure?" Is it family? Wealth? Power? A hot car? The big house? Your looks?

    Let us consider empathy as a treasure, with these words by Debbie Mirza, from the book I wrote about yesterday:

One of the most concerning things I have observed about our society as a whole is that there is a growing number of people who lack empathy. This seems to be increasing, especially over the past couple of decades. As this planet has become more advanced in many ways, we are also losing what is most important. 

Many of the political leaders running the world's countries are devoid of empathy, and this affects everything. ... I have observed overt and covert narcissistic behavior in both the Republican party as well as the Democratic party. Decisions made by political leaders as well as heads of large corporations affect all of us. If these are made from a place where empathy does not reside, it will not end well. When empathy isn't in leadership, decisions are made that hold money and power as the greatest priority instead of the people who reside here and the planet that feeds and shelters us. 

People with no empathy have no remorse and act out of their own selfishness, hurting others and not feeling bad about it. They excuse their destructive behavior and blame others. Covert narcissism is all around us, affecting our self-image and self-worth. 

    What are our treasures? What future are we creating?

        Leta