The video I watched on empathy was a big picture video. Although it was a little hard for me to be able to understand the first time I watched, the second time I did, I really tried to step out of this box of my own world. I stopped trying to find topics to discuss in my English assigned blog and I started to understand what that Iraqi man was thinking. I started to realize the evil in the American’s ways. It honestly made me uncomfortable to listen and have to idea in the back of my mind that people really do think and feel this way about people. I wanted to walk over to my son and daughters and tell them that I love them and that I will stop these awful Americans. Once the video was over and I started to think about what I had felt, I realized that it was the worst I have ever felt about a situation that was not affecting me directly or personally. I understood and was able to empathize with an Iraqi insurgent. I, a middle class, fairly non-profound, teenage girl in suburban Colorado, was able to feel, or try to feel, what a grown man, whose homeland was being attacked by evil, Christian, American soldiers that he was going to hurt them no matter the consequences, felt. Polar opposites, right? Yet Richards was able to make that connection. He was able to give me the knowledge to understand this man’s life. He started with a story that was easier to relate to because it was from an American’s perspective, simply a twist on history. However, he then moved on to a much more extended point of view. If Richards can help me understand what it felt like to be in that position, then I should be able to give myself the ability to empathize with others whose lives are not too different from my own.
Through empathizing, and in its very definition, I can understand what people are going through. This will help in education because if I can connect with others, and step into their shoes, I will be much better adapted to looking at something in a different light. I will have to ability to understand why they do what they do or say what they say. This will help when I have to do a group project and we must share ideas or if I am in a brainstorming group and someone is coming up with thoughts that I think are useless. People in the grander scheme of education currently make decisions based on time management and monetary expenses. Although I am sure they do know of effects on students and teachers, I feel as though they do not understand or can relate to students and those who work the closest with them. When CSAP was put into effect in the state of Colorado, I believe that the board members did not say, “These tests are not completely affective because some kids do not test very well and do posses the skill to fill in a correct bubble answering standard questions.” CSAPs do not test our learning, the test how well our teachers can tell us exactly what we need to pass a standard test. Perhaps if these same members of education board had considered that filling in a bubble would not be applicable in these children’s futures, then we would not as much of an education reform.
This TED video showed me that if we all understood what we were each going through, and then maybe we would not have war. I am not saying that empathizing would solve these world problems, but it certainly would help to correct a misjudgment. As Richard said it in the video, you cannot help but feeling in the front of your brain that tens of thousands of people are dying because of oil. Because they need it so they need to take it. My brother, father, son, uncle, aunt, sister, mother, daughter died for America’s oil need. As an Iraqi, that is not a pleasant thought. This is not light topic. This is probably the reason that Richards did not have any humor or sly remarks in his talk. He wanted us to focus on those emotions of anger and frustration rather than be lighthearted and come away without truly understanding what he was seeking to be comprehended. If you watch this video and can suddenly relate to more people, I believe that you were a successful listener and would make a successful empathizer without the support of Richards. This TED Talk is very useful and easy to utilize in everyday situations. It touches on the personal life of just about anyone, with the exception of Spock.
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