Reflections on the importance of empathy

Over the last few weeks I have been reflecting on the power of empathy and had amazing conversations with lots of people. I wanted to document some thoughts as empathy is a big part of my gap year.

I don't think I'm going to shock anyone when I say that politics is a big part of my life.
For me politics is about people and therefore empathy should be at the core of political life, however when I wrote about this in my personal statement one of the teachers reviewing it was taken aback. Believing that a personal statement should be academic and not about emotions, They said that when they looked at politics, empathy wasn't what sprang to mind.
This contrasted with the conversations I had with people at the Christians in Politics Youth Engagement Day. Lots of young people spoke about how they felt drawn to politics because they weren't content to sit by when others needed help. Whilst I disagree with many politicians from an ideological stance, I trust that the vast majority of them signed up to do good in the way they personally thought was most effective.
Our training day ended with a Prayers for the Nation event run by the Conservative Christian Fellowship, I had to practise what I preach about the importance of cross party work by going to a Conservative event! (Kingdom before tribe!) We met in the St Mary Undercroft Chapel underneath Parliament. It was magnificent to be in such a beautiful place! We sang carols with the most amazing Gospel choir and I was blown away. There was such a sense of common humanity in our prayers.

The concept of empathy has come up again in my Amnesty Enrichment Project, I am loving the independence of planning workshops for Sixth Form students on human rights, starting with the Refugee Crisis. At the moment I am planning not knowing anything about the people who are coming in January, so thought I would begin by introducing the back ground of the crisis and facilitate discussion/ debates on whether the UK government have a responsibility to do more. Additionally one of the aims of the group is to reflect on empathy...If this challenges them to truly step into the shoes of others then the workshops have the potential to influence how to they look at news stories, elections and charity in the years to come. This is my dream.

But whilst these things have been thought provoking, it was the book 'I am Malala' that prompted me to write this blog post. Wow, did I underestimate her story! I was completely unaware of the staggering amount of work she did to raise awareness for 'a girls right to education' before her shooting. Her confidence and determination to call her government and army to account is an inspiration. When accepting awards she presented them with her demands, when receiving death threats her family continued, when friends around them were being shot they gave interviews elevating their cause at huge risk. Several times I was bought to tears, overwhelmed with sadness, desperation and frustration at the steady rise of the Taliban in Pakistan and the horrific regime they put in place.

It takes so little for us all to fall into the trap of scapegoating, and referring to fellow human beings as 'the other'. We are able to justify human rights abuses only when we chose to dehumanisation over empathy. 

Basically I think empathy is everything. 

I hope that just as I have had my mindset shifted through interesting conversations, I may be able to get others to question how seriously they take empathy as a conscious action.

Finally PLEASE watch this clip, it says all of the above better.

Is Justice Worth it?

Prayer Requests:

- I find out about my host family in January, please be praying that I am comforted by whatever information I get sent. 

- I start the Amnesty Enrichment workshops on the 18th January at Alderbrook Sixth Form so please be praying that people turn up and are keen to get stuck in. 

- Also for my sleep, am still struggling with exhaustion and not enjoying it!

Thank you for making it to the end of my second blog post.