{"id":169,"date":"2020-09-25T19:46:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T23:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=169"},"modified":"2020-12-02T20:03:05","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T01:03:05","slug":"empathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2020\/09\/25\/empathy\/","title":{"rendered":"Empathy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It’s often said that before we can hope to understand someone else’s life, we need to walk a mile in their shoes.

Or perhaps join them on a car ride from Washington D.C. to Texas. 

Before he became vice-president and ascended to the White House following JFK\u2019s assassination in November 1963, Texas senator Lyndon B. Johnson sometimes asked his black housemaid and butler, Helen and Gene Williams, to drive his spare car from the nation\u2019s capital back to Austin.  On one occasion he also asked if they would take along the family beagle.

Gene hesitated.  LBJ wondered why.  \u201cThe dog loves you,\u201d he said, \u201cand he shouldn\u2019t give you any trouble.\u201d

Johnson didn\u2019t get it.  Gene Williams decided it was time to help him understand.  He described what it was like for a black couple to spend three days traversing the Deep South.  Because of Jim Crow legislation that had been in place for three-quarters of a century, blacks couldn\u2019t access the bathrooms, lunch counters, motels, swimming pools, theaters, restaurants, or even drinking fountains that were reserved for whites. 

After driving for hours, the Williams would invest even more hours looking for a diner that would serve them.  They would sometimes venture miles beyond the highway searching for a bathroom.  Finding a hotel that would welcome them was inevitably a struggle. 

Gene summarized, \u201cA colored man\u2019s got enough trouble getting across the South on his own, without having a dog along.\u201d 

LBJ\u2019s eyes were opened.  He had nothing to say to Gene. 

As Doris Kearns Goodwin notes in her book Leadership in Turbulent Times<\/em>, Johnson shared what he learned from the Williams over and over again as he talked with Southern leaders and diehard segregationists.  He knew that facts and figures wouldn\u2019t change hardened hearts.  But a compelling story has the capacity to get under your skin.  Wasn\u2019t it time to eliminate the sheer evil of the South\u2019s systemic racial injustice? 

President Kennedy had talked earnestly about civil rights.  But he had failed to take decisive action. 

Just five days after entering the Oval Office \u2013 and less than a year before the next national election \u2013 LBJ decided to risk his entire presidency on moving forward.  When a friend suggested he would almost certainly be wasting his time and energy on a lost cause, Johnson responded, \u201cWell, what the hell\u2019s the presidency for?\u201d 

On November 27 he told Congress, \u201cWe have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. We have talked for 100 years or more. It is time now to write the next chapter, and to write it in the books of law.\u201d

Goodwin declares that great leaders know what causes are worth risking everything for.  They can discern the moment when it\u2019s time to push all their chips to the center of the table. 

LBJ knew what it would cost.  \u201cIt was destined to set me apart forever from the South.\u201d  He was risking his reputation, his political career, and lifelong friendships.

He acted anyways. 

The result was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, America\u2019s first major legislative effort to address the injustices and social humiliations targeting people of color.

Empathy always costs something.  As the apostle Paul writes, \u201cPut yourself aside, and help others get ahead.  Don\u2019t be obsessed with getting your own advantage.  Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.\u201d (Philippians 2:4, The Message<\/em>)

What in the world would prompt us to live like that? 

We have a great role model. 

Look at Paul\u2019s very next verse:  \u201cThink of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn\u2019t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.\u201d  

Walk in someone else\u2019s shoes.  Imagine what\u2019s it like to live their life and face their challenges.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then ask our empathetic Savior to fill you with the kind of empathy that will help transform this broken world.
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It’s often said that before we can hope to understand someone else’s life, we need to walk a mile in their shoes. Or perhaps join them on a car ride from Washington D.C. to Texas.  Before he became vice-president and ascended to the White House following JFK\u2019s assassination in November 1963, Texas senator Lyndon B. Johnson sometimes asked his black… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[43,44,3],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-civil-rights","tag-empathy","tag-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}