Mary Gordon is an internationally known and award-winning educator who is a strong advocate for empathy as a spur to conflict resolution, altruism, and peace. When children's needs for love and belonging are not met at home or in school, many of them turn to violence, taking out their anger and frustrations on weaker peers.
Mary Gordon founded Roots of Empathy in Canada in 1996 as a response to intergenerational cycles of violence and poor parenting. It was her belief that empathy was integral to solving problems and disputes in the home, the schoolyard, the boardroom, and the war room. She pioneered a program in affective learning for kids in classrooms to use empathy as a way of dealing with differences.
At the core of the program are visits to schools by an infant and a parent. By witnessing the loving interaction between the two, children begin to become more cognizant of their own thoughts and feelings as well as those of others. Empathy is nurtured and experienced as a natural and healing part of human relationships.
Besides growing the seed of empathy within students, this program has seeded citizenship and civility, giving youngsters a sense of their ability to bring about change and renewal in society. With its emphasis on cooperation and a respect for differences, Roots of Empathy also fosters a pedagogy of hope that is salutary for all. With both clarity and enthusiasm, Gordon explores this facility as "the literacy of the emotions" and as something caught and not taught.
She explains how empathy weaves together six strands that contribute to human connection: neuroscience, temperament, attachment, emotional literacy, authentic communication, and social inclusion. Gordon concludes with four rousing chapters on empathy as a human trait that affects how we "challenge injustice, how we live and care for each other, and how we take responsibility for the safekeeping of our planet."
