Published Articles
By Dr. William R. Morrow

“Empathy, An Essential Relationship Quality?”

Governor Mark Sanders lacks it. Judge Sonya Sotomayor is accused of having too much! What is it? It is the quality of empathy, that invisible connecting force that enables a person to grasp what another person is feeling.

South Carolina’s governor was taken to task in the media by one of this country’s four-star marriage counselors because Sanders ran over the top of his wife not only with his blatant affair, but also by making it humiliatingly public. The judge, while appearing before the Congressional review committee, was criticized for (supposedly) allowing her compassionate feelings for litigants to cloud her courtroom ability to be objective.

Now, wouldn’t it have been nice, even serendipitous, for these two people to privately meet up, and learn a little from each other? I am imagining a high level conference, with all appropriate security, and in a relaxed atmosphere each party could level out their bad portions of empathy. It would be like a sophisticated Milton Bradley board game, where the person with too many points will lose the game unless she unloads excess on the other player. Player number two picks up vital points in a crucial category, bringing him into a better pole position. Could they each get to the winning happy medium? If they are lucky, they get to take home just the right degree of personal empathy, like they had just completed a Tony Robbins seminar. Lives improved. Relationships improved. Government moves on.

But when it comes to empathy ability for the masses, there is more work to be done. it is an excellent relationship skill to possess, and obviously (from the Newsmaker Lesson) in moderation.

Here’s the thing: Unless you read what your mate and those around you are feeling, you will stumble through your relationships in a bubble of isolation.

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