Edwin Rutsch, an East Bay resident and documentary filmmaker, is passionate about following President Barack Obama's theme of empathy. Edwin has collected almost 2 hours of film clips which feature President Obama. In that footage we learn of President Obama's thoughts - how "the empathy deficit damages so much of our politics" and his sense of the 9/11 tragedy and his belief in the "fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers and inability to imagine or connect with the humanity and the suffering of others."
Edwin wants to bring awareness to President Obama's mission. "People don't know that Obama talks so much about empathy and that it's his most important value. I went to a class on Nonviolence at UC Berkeley to give a little talk about empathy. I was surprised that 2 of the 80 students there knew about Obama's passion for empathy. I expected way more."
In one interview President Obama talks about his core value. "That sense of empathy is the one that I find myself appreciating more and more as I get older…it is at the heart of my moral code. And it is how I understand The Golden Rule - not simply as a call to sympathy or charity, but as something more demanding - a call to stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes…I find myself returning again and again to that simple principle - ‘How would that make you feel?' - as a guidepost for my politics... As a country we seem to be suffering from an empathy deficit.'
He continues, "We wouldn't tolerate schools that don't teach, that are chronically underfunded and understaffed and under-inspired if we thought that the children in them were like our children. It's hard to imagine the CEO of a company giving himself a multi-million dollar bonus while cutting health care coverage for his workers if he thought they were in some sense his equal. And it's safe to assume that those in power would think longer and harder about launching a war if they envisioned their own sons and daughters in harm's way."
Edwin's collection of documentary footage of President Obama is educational, inspiring, and hopeful. The footage is a living, breathing piece as Edwin continues to add more film as it arises.
How wonderful it is to have a president who values empathy!
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Comments
Very insightful article. I definitely we'll use his method when considering empathy. Thanks for sharing!
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