Catholic science teacher blog

My host mom when I studied abroad was an amazing woman. She emigrated to France when she was 5 years old from Madgascar and worked at the Council of Europe as an English – French translator. Every morning I would wake up to hear her doing her Buddhist practice from 5 am to 6 am in the morning. She was very kind and supportive…almost like a mom to me when I was there. Once I asked her whether she considered herself French or Madagash and she said to me “No I am a citizen of the world.” That has always stuck with me.

Today we studied empathy and narrative empathy in preparation to go to Auschwitz – Birkenau for the next two days. We have also read to books in preparation for this trip to help us as we build our own awareness and empathy for the situation so many innocent people (especially our Jewish brothers and sisters faced) during World War II. These two books are:

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

and Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

I think empathy is critical for building strong relationships, for leading organizations effectively, and for creating community. But even more important, when we help cultivate empathy in ourselves, our children, and our students, we are helping them to see others as human beings and to place the dignity of other human beings above utilitarianism. And hopefully preventing crimes against humanity.

I think my first experience with narrative empathy was the Kairos Retreat at my catholic high school. In this retreat, stories are shared, and you get to learn firsthand that everyone of your classmate has a story and many of them have suffered, whether that be depression, having parents divorce, or illness. I think it was critical for laying the foundation in my mind and heart to be kind and caring towards others because so many are fighting a battle.

In our lecture today, we watched a video about Sympathy vs. Empathy. There are many people who approach those who suffer with sympathy instead of empathy. I think a person who has suffered and experienced the pain of truly suffering has probably experienced both responses and can accurately describe the difference.

This video explains it well.

In any case, I am as guilty as most others of responding with sympathy instead of empathy. Even just now coming home from dinner in front of a church, a begging woman came up to me and I was afraid to engage with her….I walked away and she said “If you are a believer, please pray for me”. She was sincere and I was afraid so I didn’t respond to her with the compassion that she is owed just for being human.

Primo Levi describes how civilians responded to prisoners in the death camps as if they were “untouchables. …They think that we have been condemned to this life of ours, reduced to our condition, (because) we are tainted with some mysterious grave sin…they see us reduced to ignoble slavery, without hair, without honour and without names, beaten every day…they judge us worthy of our abasement”

So I guess the next question is what does this narrative empathy question have to do with faith and science. And I would argue plenty. As I was flying to Poland, I watched the movie Oppenheimer about the developer of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos. Although Oppenheimer built the bomb for the express purpose of defeating the Nazis, the American political forces would use the bomb against the Japanese people (primarily civilians) over and above the conscientious objection of many world scientists. No doubt there is a tremendous sense of accomplishment when a scientist can harness the power of nature (in this case nuclear fission) to do some useful work in our society. And certainly helping to end a destructive war more quickly is valuable. But a scientist is also fundamentally responsible to create and engineer responsibly to serve the human good, mindful empathetically of the impact of his/her work in the lives of other human beings. I am in no way judging Oppenheimer as I am not convinced he was completely aware of the impact of the atomic bomb or even that it would be used as it was. Rather, I am just suggesting that empathy for other human beings (regardless of citizenship) and protection of human dignity ought to be a critical factor in harnessing science to engineer weapons.

In any case, tomorrow I will visit Auschwitz for the very first time and my focus will be on embracing in my heart and mind and spirit the stories of those who died in those camps…I want them to know that they are seen in their pain…that they are remembered…that while they lose their lives too soon and prematurely…that their stories will serve to help me bring more empathy to my children and my children’s children and my students to ensure that this never happens again.