Author Archives: seeandconnect
Thank you for sharing….
I am in the line for security at the airport. It is a longer line than usual, but thankfully I arrived early enough to not care. Behind me stands a daughter and a mother. At one point, daughter says loudly: “I was so calm this morning. Now I’m tot… Continue reading
Chicago brief: A two hour meeting which proved very instructive…
On Monday, I attended a meeting of lawyers, doctors, community workers, government officials, people from umbrella organizations for service/support providers. This group meets monthly to discuss and agree shared lobbying priorities in relation to… Continue reading
Feral elite, feral underclass – surely we have more constructive ways of communicating?
Here I am in the suburbs of Chicago. Today I was at the local bank with my father. We were talking with someone he knows well there (he’s been going to the same bank for over forty years!). His contact is a White man in his early sixties who calls… Continue reading
Moral Courage, Divisions Between People, and Self-Awareness
Since 22 August, which kicked off the DC part of my US travels, I’ve been having a lot of comparative discussions about the UK and the US. They began with a brown bag talk I gave at The Praxis Project and carried on into coffees with researchers a… Continue reading
Empathy: how empathic are we – you and me – really?
The other week, I wrote about empathy. I was eager to define it, because I realised that we have many misconceptions about what it means to be empathic. Last week, I suggested empathic dialogue is a critical component of post-riots recovery proces… Continue reading
(In)visibility
I’ve got a lot of reflections moving around in my head about the riots and looting, about community relations, about empathy, about stops and searches, about restorative justice, about moral reasoning and ethical values. I’ll bring them out onto t… Continue reading
London Riots – let us seize the opportunity…
Here I am in the leafy Chicago suburb of Glenview. Here I am, while London’s streets have literally been burning. London is where I live. East London – Bethnal Green, to be exact. I’ve lived in the East End for fifteen years, a marked contrast to … Continue reading
Empathy – what about it?
“If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die?” Shylock, a Jewish Moneylender, Merchant of Venice In certain circles, empathy is trendy at the moment. For example, Matthew Taylor (RSA Chief E… Continue reading
Too much empathy?
At the Baron Cohen talk, Matthew Taylor observed that potentially too much empathy can get in the way of decisiveness. A leader, fully aware of how a decision might impact on vast range of individuals and communities might face decision-paralysis Continue reading
Untitled
We live as we breathe – contracting and expanding, contracting and expanding. Both states are neither good nor bad. Sometimes being contracted allows us to rest and recuperate; it can be in many different ways a form of self-protection. Problems a… Continue reading
See & Connect 