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Culture of Empathy
Builder:
Barack Obama - Quotes
“History really doesn’t follow a straight line. It zigs and zags, but
the trend lines ultimately will be in the direction of a less violent,
more empathetic, more generous world. And that requires individuals
fighting for that future,” Barack Obama
" I often say we've got a budget deficit that's important, we've got a
trade deficit that's critical, but what I worry about most is our empathy
deficit. When
I speak to students, I tell them that one of the most important things
we can do is to look through somebody else's eyes. "
-
Barack Obama
"You know, there's a lot of talk in this country about the federal
deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy
deficit -
the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes; to see the world
through the eyes of those who are different from us - the child who's
hungry, the steelworker who's been laid-off, the family who lost the
entire life they built together when the storm came to town." -
Barack Obama
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"Learning to stand in somebody else's shoes, to see
through their eyes, that's how peace begins. And it's up to you to
make that happen."
Barack Obama
"But it will depend on young people like you being open to new
ideas and new possibilities. And it will require young people like
you never to stereotype or assume the worst about other people.
In the Muslim world, this notion that somehow everything is the
fault of the Israelis lacks balance -- because there's two sides
to every question.
That doesn't mean that sometimes one side has done something wrong
and should not be condemned. But it does mean there's always two
sides to an issue. I say the same thing to my Jewish friends,
which is you have to see the perspective of the Palestinians.
Learning to stand in somebody else's shoes to see through their eyes,
that's how peace begins. And it's up to you to make that happen."
2009-04-07 - Barack Obama Promotes
Empathy: Student Roundtable In Istanbul |
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"we remember those who are less fortunate,
.... and at this sacred time of year let us join together across
denominations, religions and cultures to make a habit of empathy
and reach out to those most in need. To share the blessings we
enjoy and to advance the cause of peace in all corners of our
world."
Barack Obama
2009-10-14 - Barack Obama Promotes Empathy:
Observes Diwali |
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"each side has legitimate aspirations - and that’s part of
what makes peace so hard. And the deadlock will only be broken
when each side learns to stand in the other’s shoes; each side
can see the world through the other’s eyes. That’s what we
should be encouraging. That’s what we should be promoting."
Barack Obama
"each
side has legitimate aspirations -- and that’s part of what
makes peace so hard. And the
deadlock will only be broken when each side learns to stand in
the other’s shoes; each side can see the world through the
other’s eyes.
That’s what we should be encouraging. That’s what we should be
promoting. This
body -- founded, as it was, out of the ashes of war and
genocide, dedicated, as it is, to the dignity of every single
person -- must recognize the reality that is lived by both the
Palestinians and the Israelis. The measure of our actions must
always be whether they advance the right of Israeli and
Palestinian children to live lives of peace and security and
dignity and opportunity.
And we will only succeed in that effort if we can
encourage the parties to sit down, to listen to each other, and
to understand each other’s hopes and each other’s fears. " |
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"As you travel through the Middle East what keeps on striking
home to me is how similar everyone is, and yet the degree to
which we can find differences to fight wars over. It requires
a great deal of empathy, I think, between various sides to
overcome this history and live in peace."
Barack Obama
2006-01-13 - Obama wraps up Middle
East trip |
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"Ultimately, peace is just not about politics. It’s
about attitudes; about a sense of empathy; about breaking down the
divisions that we create for ourselves in our own minds and our
own hearts that don’t exist in any objective reality..."
Barack Obama
"Ultimately, peace is just not about politics. It’s about
attitudes; about a sense of empathy; about breaking down the
divisions that we create for ourselves in our own minds and our
own hearts that don’t exist in any objective reality, but that we
carry with us generation after generation. And I know, because
America, we, too, have had to work hard over the decades, slowly,
gradually, sometimes painfully, in fits and starts, to keep
perfecting our union."
2013-05-17 - President Obama Speaks to the People of Northern
Ireland |
Others
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"I will tell you, Class of 2013, whatever success I have
achieved, whatever positions of leadership I have held have
depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs, and
have instead been due to that sense of connection and empathy...
"
Barack Obama
And I will tell you, Class of 2013, whatever success I have
achieved, whatever positions of leadership I have held have
depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs,
and have instead been due to that sense of connection
and empathy -- the special obligation I felt, as a black man
like you, to help those who need it most, people who didn’t have
the opportunities that I had -- because there but for the grace
of God, go I -- I might have been in their shoes. I might have
been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have
been able to support a family. And that motivates me. So it’s up
to you to widen your circle of concern -- to care about justice
for everybody, white,
black and brown. Everybody.
2013-05-20 - Morehouse College Atlanta GA |
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"let us join together across denominations, religions and
cultures to make a habit of empathy and reach out to those
most in need. To share the blessings we enjoy and to advance
the cause of peace in all corners of our world."
Barack Obama
2009-10-14 - Barack Obama Promotes Empathy:
Observes Diwali |
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"One of the values that I think men in
particular have to pass on is the value of empathy. Not
sympathy, empathy. And what that means is standing in
somebody else's shoes, being able to look through their
eyes."
Barack Obama
One of the values that I think men in particular have to
pass on is the value of
empathy.
Not sympathy, empathy.
And what that means is standing in somebody else's shoes,
being able to look through their eyes.
You
know, sometimes we get so caught up in "us" that it's hard
to see that there are other people and that your behavior
has an impact on them. And sometimes brothers in
particular don't like to feel empathy,
don't like to think in terms of "How does this affect
other people?" because we think that's being soft.
There's a culture in our society that says we can't show
weakness and we can't, therefore, show kindness. That we
can't be considerate because sometimes that makes us look
weak.
2005-06-22 - What it takes be
full-grown man? |
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"We need somebody who's got the heart, the
empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage
mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor,
or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And
that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my
judges."
Barack Obama
2007-07-17 - Barack Obama
Promotes Empathy: Planned Parenthood on Judges |
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"An empathy shortage. That's what the
principle of empathy does, its calls us all to task. The
heartless conservative, the patronizing liberal, the
powerful and the powerless. The oppressed and the
oppressor. No one is exempt from finding common ground,"
Barack Obama
"You know, the principle of empathy gives broader meaning,
by the way, to Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence...
It seems like we got an empathy shortage,
an empathy deficit. More serious than the federal budget
deficit. We've become so cynical that it almost seems
naive to believe that we can understand each other across
the gulf of race, or class or region or religion...
An empathy shortage. That's what the
principle of empathy does, its calls us all to task. The
heartless conservative, the patronizing liberal, the
powerful and the powerless. The oppressed and the
oppressor. No one is exempt from finding common ground,
because when no one is exempt it forces all of us to
examine our own actions, our own belief systems. It shakes
us out of our complacency and protects us from our own
blindness our own self-righteousness. Our own fanaticism."
2002-01-21 - Martin Luther King Day -
Chicago IL -
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel |
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"Let us resist prejudice,
intolerance, and indifference in whatever forms they may
take -- let us stand up strongly to the scourge of
anti-Semitism, which is still prevalent in far too many
corners of our world. "
Barack Obama
"At the dawn of this New Year, let us
rededicate ourselves to that work. Let us reject the
impulse to harden ourselves to others’ suffering, and
instead make
a habit of empathy –of
recognizing ourselves in each other and extending our
compassion to those in need. Let us resist prejudice,
intolerance, and indifference in whatever forms they may
take -- let us stand up strongly to the scourge of
anti-Semitism, which is still prevalent in far too many
corners of our world. "
2009 09 18 Barack Obama on Empathy Warm
Wishes for Rosh Hashanah |
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"That's part of the empathy. Empathy doesn't just extend to cute little
kids. You have to have empathy when you're talking to some
guy who doesn't like black people."
Barack Obama
Oprah: We Americans also suffer from an empathy deficit,
because we often feel that the woman in Bosnia or
Afghanistan who loses her child is somehow different from
us.
Barack: They become abstractions.....
Barack: Those slash-and-burn tactics have become the
custom in Washington politics. But we will not play that
game. People don't want to hear folks shouting at each
other and trying to score political points. They want to
solve problems. I'm determined to disagree with people
without being disagreeable. That's part of the empathy.
Empathy doesn't just extend to cute little kids. You have
to have empathy when you're talking to some guy who
doesn't like black people.
There's a level of viciousness in politics because power
is at stake. Fortunately, most of my past mistakes are
ones that people already know about. That's one of the
nice things about writing a book.
2004-11-01 - Barack Obama
Promotes Empathy with Oprah Magazine |
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'My mother was the single most
important influence in my life. I saw her struggles as a
single mom. She taught me the values of hard work and
responsibility, but also of compassion and empathy - being
able to look at the world through somebody else's eye and
stand in their shoes.'
Barack Obama
2012-05-13 - Mothers Day Greeting |
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"You remind us that “the Lord’s most
powerful message” is mercy. And that means welcoming the
stranger with empathy and a truly open heart – from the
refugee who flees war-torn lands to the immigrant who
leaves home in search of a better life. "
Barack Obama |
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"I think the theme that stitched our
conversation together was a belief that in politics and in
life the quality of empathy, the ability to stand in
somebody else’s shoes and to care for someone even if they
don't look like you or talk like you or share your
philosophy - that that's critical."
Barack Obama
I think the theme that stitched our conversation together
was a belief that in politics and in life the quality of
empathy, the ability to stand in somebody else’s shoes and
to care for someone even if they don't look like you or
talk like you or share your philosophy -- that that's
critical. It’s the lack of empathy that makes it very easy
for us to plunge into wars.
It's the lack of empathy that allows us to ignore the
homeless on the streets. And obviously central to my
Christian faith is a belief in treating others as I’d have
them treat me. And what’s I think created so much love and
excitement for His Holiness has been that he seems to live
this, and shows that joy continuously.
A
Shared Belief in Empathy: Barack Obama & Pope Francis at
Vatican |
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