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From: Bob Quesal
Date: 21 Oct 2005
Time: 12:52:55 -0500
Remote Name: 143.43.201.240
Hi Kevin: Thanks for your comments - very helpful. I agree that listening is very important for developing empathy. It seems, however, that EXPERIENCING is really the critical thing. Not necessarily experiencing stuttering or cancer (although direct experience is probably the best teacher), but experiencing things that help us to understand that we may not have all the answers. Perhaps more importantly, to enable us to see that our expected responses are not always the things we do when we are in a real, as opposed to a hypothetical, situation. I think, however, that when we listen CLOSELY to others, and understand why they are who they are, we realize that their decisions are as logical as anyone else's. That may help us to be less judgmental and more empathetic. Thanks again. Bob Q.