Daniel Goleman , author of the New York Times bestseller Emotional Intelligence, talks about Compassion on this YouTube video. The essence of his talk is about helping and that we’re all hard wired to help – but then, why don’t we? He shares several interesting stories on this topic, but one in particular caught my attention. He said that at one point he went out on the streets with social workers and learned that most of those who were homeless and on the street had psychological issues. Beyond that though, he said his ‘urban trance’ weakened and he was then able to notice those who were homeless. One day he was walking through the subway and noticed a man huddled up on the floor with no shirt. He walked over to him to see what was wrong. The man had fainted from lack of food. When Daniel walked over to him and spoke to him, others as well awoke from their trance and saw the man and came over to see what was wrong. Someone offered to go get juice, etc.
Daniel shares that we don’t help because we are too focused on ourselves – so focused that we don’t notice the other. Perhaps in too much of a hurry or absorbed in our heads about some issue. He shares a great story about divinity students at Princeton Theological Seminary who were given the assignment of writing a sermon on the parable of the good samaritan. They were told to write this and then go to another building to deliver the sermon. On the way, they passed a man hunched over in pain. How many do you think stopped to help?
In my work as a shelter director, one of my jobs is working with the volunteers. Since our inception two winters ago, we’ve scheduled 80-90 volunteers each week to run the shelter (along with 2 -4 paid staff). I hear this all the time from volunteers. ‘Until I started volunteering for Interfaith Sanctuary, I never noticed how many homeless were on the street. Now I see them everywhere.” They woke up from their urban trance.
Perhaps in this day as we head out into the world, we’ll walk in mindfulness – awake to the people around us – present – available to lending a helping hand and open to compassion.
Photo Credit: Walk on By – Socialtimes on Flickr. Creative Commons License.
