The image on our front page of an infant and a blind girl reaching out to touch one another speaks to the power of connection and the beauty of communication. One lacks sight, the other lacks language, yet the two speak through gentle curiosity.
Baby Natalie, as you’ll read on page 24, is the “rock star” of a Roots of Empathy class held at Walter Lee elementary school. Every month, Natalie, who’s now nine month old, shows up with her mother and a Roots of Empathy instructor to “teach” the Grade 1 students simply by doing what babies do – gurgle, laugh, cry, fuss, stare.
Last week, she elicited an audible gasp from her students by crawling across the mat for the first time. Throughout the visit, the instructor asks the students to observe and make assessments as to what the baby may be thinking or feeling. The class is also watching the mother’s behaviour and seeing how she picks up cues from her child. The hope, and there is evidence to support it, is that the program will set children on the road to becoming empathetic and emotionally aware individuals.
I was reading Alan Campbell’s story and swooning over our adorable front page photo just before heading to the gym, where I climbed onto the stairmaster -- ugh – and plugged my earphones into the Live TV.
That’s when I saw the “breaking news.” Stations were reporting the deadly van rampage in Toronto.
Talk about a mind shift -- from an image of engendering empathy in children to one of bodies strewn (albeit covered in tarps) along a familiar street in Canada’s largest city.
Granted, it’s too early to know just what happened and why, but what we do know is a new word – “incel.”
Incel, if you haven’t heard yet, stands for “involuntarily celibate.” It began as a kind of online lonely hearts club but has morphed into a community of violent misogynists (mainly heterosexual males) who seek revenge for the fact women have rebuffed them. It appears the suspect in the van attack was involved in this group.
As I walked back from the gym, I despaired at the thought of how much time and attention it takes to build a kind, caring society (empathy classes and the rest) and how quickly it can be blown apart. One renegade van careening through pedestrians has the power to mow down any sense of civility.
Or does it?
Just 24 hours after that horrific attack, Torontonians were back on that same street, laying wreaths, lighting candles, reclaiming the heart of their city. Perhaps kindness and compassion are not so fragile after all.
People do what they do for all sorts of complicated reasons, and a Roots of Empathy class won’t stop every senseless killing; still, it is part the foundation of a kind and safe society. But why stop at Grade 1?
Clearly, some of us adults could also use a lesson.
