food for thought.

"In all of these discussions, I find myself thinking we need more empathy. On that very point, Michael Norton began his article with a startling quote from Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, from the hearings on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court in 2009, which were racially divisive in a way they really didn’t need to be. During discussions on judicial “empathy,” Sessions opined that “Empathy for one party is always prejudice against another.” Really? What a sad, cynical worldview. It’s as though empathy is finite, like money in your bank account or gas in your tank. There’s also the assumption that if non-white people get more power and influence, they’ll wield it at the expense of white people, the way (many) white people did when the roles were reversed.

I was raised to believe empathy was what made us human, and that it’s reciprocal: The capacity to stand in another’s shoes and feel for them is one of our great advantages. So I think we’ve got to try to understand why whites seem to believe they’re facing more bias than African-Americans, even if we’re inclined to roll our eyes and either hope it’s a research problem (which I did) or hold on until what whites believe doesn’t matter so much anymore. I trust the next far-more-multiracial generation to feel for older and younger people, whatever their race. I believe that makes us not only human, but American — and I think I have a lot of company in that belief."

Joan Walsh

empathy is such a wonderful part of life and what i continually find myself being drawn to when i see it in people. i thought this was a unique and interesting take on the word and it's meaning. 

enjoy.