Antennae for droplets of received wisdom

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Sleeping Stranger On Q SubwayTrain Defines Empathy And Is A Lesson In Being Good



“Maybe the photo wouldn’t have become so popular if people weren’t seeing a Jewish man with a yarmulke and a black man in a hood, and because they might not necessarily correlate the two. But there is only one reason that I didn’t move, and let him continue sleeping, and that has nothing to do with race. He was simply a human being who was exhausted, and I knew it and happened to be there and have a big shoulder to offer him.”
Rabbi Bradley Hirschfield, was moved by Theil's recollection of his own fatigue as an explanation for his kindness, and said it was a perfect demonstration of human empathy…."To be able to draw on past hardship to soften our hearts towards others…" 


Blog Archive