Collaboration Requires Compassion

Working Together requires empathy

The Good Samaritan by Luigi Sciallero, 1854 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons CC0 1.0)

“I am human, therefore nothing human is alien to me.”
— Terence, c. 155 B.C.

One of the first things we learn when we come into this world, startled by bright lights and cold air, is to look for others.

Philosopher Martin Buber¹, in his short essay I and Thou (1923), observed:

“The development of the child is inextricably bound up with that of the longing for the Thou, with the satisfaction and disappointment of this longing.”

You probably remember a seminal moment in your childhood where you felt particularly loved and cared for; perhaps you remember another moment where you felt completely alone.

Those experiences and memories made you who you are today.

It probably started a lot younger than you realize: emotional conta…