I've been keeping a collection of civic virtues that I once thought were generally non-controversial in American politics, but now I'm finding aren't universally valued at all. Civic virtues like tolerance, compromise, and civility, even virtues like kindness, and democracy itself are no longer valued by some.
The latest virtue I have to add to my collection of dying virtues is empathy.
"I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a
made-up, new age term that — it does a lot of damage."
— Charlie Kirk, Oct.
12, 2022
A key component of empathy is the ability to imagine the world from another person's point of view. I admit I find it hard, if not impossible, to imagine the world from the point of view of Charlie Kirk, a person who thinks empathy does a lot of damage. But I still value the virtue and try to practice it, even for persons like Charlie Kirk, even if I don't always succeed when I try to put myself in his shoes.
"The hardest practice
is to have empathy for
those whose scorn the word."
—h/t ChatGPT
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