Irony is when we judge others as lacking empathy
“How many startups
have you founded?”
I asked.
“This
is my 3rd.”
she answered.
“That
could not have been
easy.” I said.
“It’s like
having kids.”
she replied
without hesitation.
“When you have them,
you tell yourself
‘never again!’”
she continued
smiling.
“But somehow
you forget that
and before you know it
you’re having
another one.”
The root
of “wisdom”
is “weid-,”
“to see.”
When we realize
empathy,
we connect
our experience
with that
of another.
Experiences
we did not know
to connect.
And it is in that instant,
we come to see
something
we previously
did not.
If Steve is right
that creativity
is coming to see something
others
could not
by connecting
experiences,
then perhaps realizing empathy
is creativity
imbued with the wisdom
of love.
To become one
is not
to be
the same.
No two “things”
can ever be
the same.
Especially so
if you consider
their locations.
To become one
can be
to become one
of a new
kind.
Just as two rings
can become
one chain.
May we ask ourselves
where
our responsibility
ends.
Where
the limits
of our ability to respond
lies.
Because our responsibility ends,
where our ability ends.
To assume otherwise,
can be an easy way
to set us up
for frustration
and resentment.
