Book Review: Roots of Empathy

               

TITLE:                 Roots of Empathy                                                                      

AUTHOR:            Mary Gordon

PUBLISHER:       Thomas Alan Publishers

REVIEWER:        Andy Buwalda

If you are anything like me you  may have thought at times, when some institution or other comes out with an empirical study  and states, for example, that “… moderate and  consistent exercise is good for you “.  Duh!?

 Common sense … everyone knows that!

But then the question arises: why then are so many of us not exercising enough?

The basic thesis in Roots of Empathy is that empathy (the ability to recognize emotions, understand emotions, and respond emotionally to others) needs to be taught and needs to be taught at the kindergarten through to the end of primary school levels. The process of becoming emotionally literate, says author Mary Gordon, needs to start at infancy. To that end she started a program in 1996 with a government grant to introduce a curriculum in certain designated schools called the Roots of Empathy program otherwise known as ROE. In essence, a parent, usually a mother but sometimes a father, comes in with a real live baby and introduces the baby to the class. The baby lies on a large blanket with the children and teacher all around the edges of the blanket. They then proceed to ask about the baby, watch the baby roll over, or just try to stand, or cry, etc.  In interacting with the baby the children learn empathy.

The author makes a convincing case for the antidote to bullying. If bullying is caused by emotional indifference on the part of the individual doing the bullying, then logically that person hasn’t learned empathy and if they did they would not feel the need to be aggressive. Near the end of the book the author applies the same logic to nations and war in general. 

A few years ago I reviewed a book in this column called Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman who said much the same thing as this author but applied it to society in general and especially to men who have, and not necessarily by their own fault, been socialized not to feel but rather to “…be a man and buckle down and get the job done…” and so many of us became emotionally illiterate.

I think you would agree, and especially if you profess to be a Christians, that yes, we need to practice empathy for each other.  As Jesus said, “…love your neighbor as yourself”. So the question arises: why is there so much strife and unrest in the world?

A good book… a bit slow through the middle where I felt the author was redundant  and that the point had been made  but it picks up again  in the last 2 or 3 chapters where  the  philosophy underlying the thesis is dealt with. 
Well worth the read.  Indeed, it underscores the adage: The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.