I love the idea of there being "no inherent limits to the gulfs of otherness that empathy can bridge" (see previous post). The following is not intended as a reductio ad absurdum of the claim, but as an ethical nudge, a challenge, or a dare – unless it is simply a poem. It relies the following premise: that to empathize is to be able to say, "I am that..." and to mean it.
- I am that child.
- I am that man.
- I am that woman.
- I am that mother.
- I am my neighbor.
- I am my enemy.
- I am that orangutan.
- I am that dolphin.
- I am that dog, that cat.
- I am that lizard. I am that bird.
- I am that mollusk.
- I am that arthropod.
- I am that sponge.
- I am that fungus.
- I am that bacterium.
- I am that cell.
- I am that rock.
- I am that cloud.
- I am that equation.
- I am that plate.
- I am that key.
- I am that tool.
- I am that program.
- I am that machine.
- I am that model.
- I am that robot.
- I am that replica of myself.
On the topic of empathy, a reply in verse:
ReplyDeleteWhy does the I care
'bout that, what the I sees?
because, silly, I is me, there
and here, we're both his
who is the I there
when I is not me?
he is not I, surely,
we ain't one in him
who may then i be
if I is made of him?
if he is not all mine,
am I truly me?
center me as in ego
whose is the I's self?
selfish, my own envy,
jealous of my I's me