Posts Tagged ‘fun’

Empathy is natural to animals

December 5th, 2009

bonoboHere’s an excerpt from an amusing article in the Australian:

THE strangest interview I have conducted — and the most moving — took place in a hot Georgia swamp in the US with a young mother named Panbanisha, who spent much of the time scratching herself and trying to stick a twig in my ear. We discussed marshmallows and fruit, swatted mosquitoes and played hide-and-seek for hours. At the end, she gave me part of her banana and urinated on my foot.

It turns out  Ben Macintyre’s interview was with a 14 year old Bonobo ape from Africa.  A fun read.

Monty Python’s Argument Service

October 12th, 2009

Here’s a fun video from Monty Python’s Flying Circus…

Here’s how I reacted and what I observed watching this video:

  1. I found myself thinking : John Cleese is “in denial.” He is argumentative, or obstinate, or an idiot!  Empathy asks me to set my judgments aside, even if just for a moment, to listen.
  2. I observed: Both parties keep stating and restating their positions. Each is right and the other wrong. Neither is willing to listen to the other by temporarily setting aside their own view.
  3. I observed: They do not agree about simple concrete observation, like the span of time or the words that were just spoken, or payment of money. This is an important piece of information that helps me determine how to make a connection with the other person. Having a simple shared “reality” like agreeing that I gave you money gives us a place to begin a conversation.  Still, agreeing isn’t needed for empathy, in fact, it can be an obstacle. With empathy, I’m only trying to be present for and understand the other.