Developing concern for others, thinking of them as part of us, brings self-confidence, reduces our sense of suspicion and mistrust, and enables us to develop a calm mind.
It's an empathy thing and I think it's true that if you can empathize with someone you can see more clearly where they're coming from and are less prone to mistrust them. Since there are some people that I am very suspicious of and do not trust, I must not be able to empathize with others as well as I need to.
So I started thinking about people that I mistrust - mostly people with great wealth and power who are seeking more of the same for themselves - in other words politicians who seek to give more tax cuts to the wealthy (themselves), donate tons of money to superPACs to influence elections, pay for lobbyists to get congress to vote in their favor (thus the money they have gets them more power to get more money, etc) and reduce or eliminate funding for programs that could actually help the people who are struggling.
Since this is election season, I decided to give this a try in earnest while focusing on the 2 presidential candidates - both men of great wealth and power.
First the President - Barack Obama. When I try to step into his shoes, I feel something. I see a man who is trying hard to fix the problems the country is facing. I see a man trying really hard to compromise with a Congress that doesn't want him to succeed. I also see a man who's trying so hard to bridge that gap that he is more militaristic than I would like. But I also see a man who's trying to help the people in this country who are struggling. He wants to ensure that as many people as possible are able to get health care. He seems to genuinely care about those on the lower end of the financial spectrum and wants them to have - not the same pay as some would have you believe - but the same opportunity. I also sense a personal struggle in him as he sorts out how best to proceed while keeping the needs of everyone in mind.
Now for Mitt Romney. I tried really hard to empathize with this man, but I cannot. Maybe it's my own failing, but when I try to step into his shoes, I feel empty and cold. I get the sense that this man cannot see the plight of those on the lower end of the financial spectrum. The people he thinks are hurting are the people who have lost on investments on Wall St. Those are the only people he can identify with. This is why he thinks tax cuts for investors (i.e. the wealthy) are the way to fix things. He doesn't even see the people who lost their jobs or those who can no longer afford health care. He doesn't see the people who lost their homes. Taking care of everyday needs is easy for him, so he thinks it's equally easy for everyone else. He thinks they just need to try harder. I think that attempting to empathize with Romney leaves me with that cold, empty feeling because he is unable to empathize with ordinary people. I feel nothing coming back from him - not even a sense of personal struggle with the issues. He is an empty shell.
I tend to trust Obama more than Romney because of this. I started wondering what I needed to do to gain a better understanding of Romney and perhaps be less suspicious of his motives. Actually, I don't really question his motives anymore after this exercise. He genuinely thinks his agenda is the right way to proceed based on his world view. I just think his world view doesn't include the vast majority of the American people.
Through all this pondering, I finally had a revelation about myself. I don't WANT to trust people with great wealth and power. I SHOULD be suspicious of them. Wealth and power breed corruption. When we make it easy for a small number of people with great wealth and power the ability to gain more, they then have the ability to do great damage to our country and the average person will have been robbed of the power to prevent them from doing so.
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