Training in Empathy?

I am quite happy to note through the papers that this time around I was wrong, and politicians have finally found the courage to say to the Shiv Sena, that it is too much now!

And now to speak about what the newspapers bring us....

While reading the newspapers, I find some news pleasantly surprise me by being so touchingly philanthropic, and some news causes so much pain to me that I wish I had not read them. Man is capable of so much good and bad. Even at the level of the people that we get to know, it is like reading a whole new book. We make a first impression on the basis of the 'Title and cover' and immediate evaluations. But when we start reading there are often pleasant or unpleasant surprises, and as we close our evaluation of the book, we may think, 'oh, it is not at all the way I first thought! We may sometimes like it more than we expected or are shocked by contents we hadn't expected.

And then there is our own self that we think we know, but keep discovering that we have to manage our selves too, our weaknesses, our expectations, and also manage our interaction with each different person! From the Macro to the Micro level, Human interaction, within the self or with others is more or less 'management'. Whether it is between nations or groups or parties or individuals or even within our own self. It is obviously so important that 'Managing Humankind' be a lesson taught in every class!

What makes for such management that could make possible for sustainable peace within the community and the nation and the world?

'What we act that we become'. Repeated messages given from our childhood form a pattern that decides how we behave with others. We try to act according to the expectations of behaviour and more often than not we begin to confirm to the expectations. I believe that one of the most essential messages that should be given from the very childhood say in Moral Science classes is 'Put yourself in the shoes of others before you decide how to act towards them'. I am saying this because this directive had formed in me the basis of behaviour with others. The fall side of it is that we may behave over patiently with others and then when we lose it finally it could be like an explosion from a small spark!( But later on the importance of assertiveness forms from experiences). But still it is always better to start timid than aggressive and I do believe that even that fall side can be prevented within such classroom scenario itself. Each year this same message should be given in more and more advanced way in Moral Science class as is given for other topics in other subjects. Like there could be enactment of how a particular sort of behaviour feels when coming from the other.This could also be said as 'giving the dose of the same medicine'. This is usually required for those, who though well meaning may not be able to understand how their behaviour comes across to others. I have needed that sometimes! In people who are unmindful of others, often I have seen that 'put yourself in the other's shoes' suggestion or at worst a dose of the same medicine does help and I have drawn a conclusion from varied experiences that in such people there definitely has been a lack in that practice in their formative years. Schools can do a lot in this - let us say 'training in empathy'. Empathy may not always come naturally, but I do believe it can be learn't through regular practise. How are terrorists created? Many probably know that it is mostly by brainwashing little children in special schools upto their adulthood so that they are trained to think only in a specific manner. They could have been different people given the freedom to use their own brains if they had studied in normal schools. Empathy can then definitely also be encouraged within the normal school scenario by a long duration of training. I believe it is very essential and would be very beneficial for the dream of a peaceful world.