The only way that I can explain the importance of empathy in change makers is through a friend’s story.
She told me that she still remembers it as if it was yesterday. In September, 2005 she was sitting watching T.V. with the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina. As a teacher, an image of the disaster stood out from all the rest - a photo of a child floating upside down, motionless in the water. From the image, the child looked dead. At that moment, she felt that she had to do something. She knew she had to make a change. Because the school year had only just begun, she started flying down to New Orleans every other weekend to help with the rebuilding. It was in that time that she began to form a relationship not only with others who were helping with the same cause, but with the city itself. So, on June 13, 2006, six days after the school year had ended, she packed her car and drove south.
At that time the schools in New Orleans were destroyed physically and were internally corrupt. As a teacher by trade she began getting involved with several different Charter schools. After two years of teaching she decided that she wanted to make an even bigger impact on the school system and became the Academic Support Coordinator for a large contingent of Charter schools. From this position she was able to help set the curriculum and begin to raise the expectations of what students in that city should receive as an education.
Four years later she is still part of an ever-growing charter program in New Orleans and is now in charge of implementing a new sustainable recycling program for those same schools. She says that “things are far from perfect and there have been a lot of hard times, but that her life has been a dream and could not imagine being anywhere else." Moved by one photo, she became driven by empathy to make change in others’ lives. This, in my mind, exemplifies the definition and power of empathy.
e: emccaffrey@goibelieve.com
t: @GOiBELIEVE
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