Empathy​?

Last month my friend invited me to his university graduation ceremony. He’d completed his Bachelor in American studies and now was continuing on to attain his masters in the same subject. In attendance were students who finished their studies in different programs and those who will continue with their masters and Doctorates. The event was nice and it felt good to be in the halls of academia again. Later, when all speeches were said and all hugs and kisses had subsided it was time for the most important event of the night…the food. They decided to serve the food on top of a stage. So if you were hungry and wanted to eat then you would have to make the journey on stage. Everything was going fine until, my friend, his classmate and I started a dialog about politics in America. I have to say I was impressed (let’s call him the classmate) with the classmate knowledge of issues in America and I learned some things from him. But there were other issues I had with the debate. Such as the lack of common sense and empathy for others. You know, I always say higher education is essential when one is trying to learn how to critically think. But, as a student, you should be aware of the type of curriculum that is fed to you. Deans at universities choose what type of education they think is best for students. For example, some schools may have staff who think Che Guevara is an evil guy and Henry Kissinger is a saint. Anyway, back to the discussion between my friend, the classmate and I. The debate continue with the conversation of making the choice between Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Which one would be the better option. We all agreed that both of them are not the better choice. I think I said that Hillary Clinton was a lunatic and a murderer and if she was in power we would be at war right, now. Donald Trump is an old racist,  young skirt chasing fool but he just wants to finish the job and go back to his tower in New York City. Hillary, on the other hand, should be on trial for war crimes along with the whole Obama administration. The classmate said how so? I said she was responsible for the situation in Libya and the assassination of a head of state. And now Libya is a failed state because of Hillary and Obama. The classmate didn’t think it was a big deal. I said, “Hillary laughed when the news of Muammar Gaddafi death was announced.” Hillary’s quote: “We came, we saw, he died.” I think what disturbs me was the lack of empathy for an entire culture, society, and country that was destroyed as if it had no value other than a pawn on a chess board for Hillary and Obama. But this is an issue. The world is in chaos because most of us are incapable of putting ourselves in somebody else shoes. What if Germany was torn apart again by war. Would some Germans have more sympathy for the families who seek refuge in their country from war? What if New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and Washington DC was attacked by another army from an opposing country because of the resources they have. Maybe Americans would be more sympathetic with the Iraqis. It makes you wonder maybe humans aren’t that intelligent as they claim to be. There are a few of us who have the ability to feel for other people we haven’t met. Nobody cares about nobody until tragedy strikes them and then all of certain they can relate to other people’s experiences. Maybe, just maybe the world is full of psychopaths and actually caring, understanding someone’s else misfortune is relatively new in human evolution.