What does it mean to live in a world where we struggle to find funding for programs that help children find their humanity? After my Disruptive Conversation with Mary Gordon, founder of Roots of Empathy, this is the question I was left with.
If you have never heard of Roots of Empathy, it is a nonprofit organization whose long-term goal is to build the capacity of the next generation for responsible citizenship and responsive parenting. In the short term, Roots of Empathy focuses on raising levels of empathy, resulting in more respectful and caring relationships and reduced levels of bullying and aggression.
In this episode of Disruptive Conversations, I dive into conversation with Mary Gordon. We have a candid conversation about the Art of the Disruptive Conversation. One of the many things that stood out to me was when I asked Mary to describe her most disruptive internal conversation, her answer had to do with finding herself. Her most disruptive internal conversation centred around the question who is Mary Gordon. This stood out to me for a number of reasons, for one thing, I am publishing this podcast the day after it was announced that Mary was awarded the 2018 Governor General’s Innovation Award. It is a reminder that no matter how successful we are, we all seek to be comforted in knowing who we are and that we belong. It is a fundamental part of being human.
What I heard in that comment, was someone stepping into their whole humanity. Through her work, Mary’s question to the world, as I understand it, is why don’t we educate the whole child? Why do we focus on academic scores and scores in scales of humanity? Even a woman with accolades, like the Governor General’s Innovation Award, can express publicly, on a podcast, that she sometimes searches for herself.
She too can be vulnerable.
I think we can all agree that empathy, vulnerability, and belonging are all integral to the human experience. If we agree with this, then how is it that teaching empathy in a classroom can be considered a radical idea? To learn more, tune into this episode of Disruptive Conversations with Mary Gordon, founder of the Roots of Empathy program.