Whatever Happened To Empathy?

Why one man thinks this simple practice could solve some of America’s top problems.

By Alain StephensMarch 9, 2015 8:11 pm

When going through your daily newsfeed – it’s hard not to become jaded. Every day the top stories seem uncannily similar: tension between political parties, conflict in the middle east, arguments of immigration or the economy.

The polarized sides of these disputes have seemingly created a stagnant no man’s land, where any amount of compromise is viewed as total defeat. So what’s the answer? Well for social commentator and author Roman Krznaric – it’s empathy.

“It doesn’t have to be this way” Krznaric says. “The antidote is empathy. The abilitity to step into the shoes of another person and look through the world with their eyes.”

Krznaric has made a career preaching this sentiment. He believes that the art is something society has seemingly lost. “We live in an age where a toxic us versus them mentality pervades almost every aspect of our social and political life,” Krznaric says.

He argues that empathy though isn’t something that needs to be learned as much as it needs to be relearned. “Research tells us that 98 percent have the ability to empathize wired into our brains.,” Kranzaric says. “ Empathy is the most powerful tool we have in understanding other peoples lives.”