Memory reload
Over the two weeks, I’ve been thinking about empathy. I think it’s a word that is used selectively unfortunately. Depending on whose experience we are talking about. Especially when discussing inequalities within society.
Currently, conversations on women’s safety and racial inequalities are occupying mainstream media. But I wonder, what this conversation will look like in three weeks? Or six months? And if any proposed societal changes align with people’s actual lived experiences? These questions made me think back to an installation where I literally walked in someone else's shoes. Back in 2018, The Empathy Museum presented A Mile in My Shoes, which was housed in a huge shoebox outside The Migration Museum.
I was offered someone else's shoes to walk in, an iPod and headphones and went on my way to listen to their story about migrating to the UK. I thought this immersive experience was brilliant in bringing the saying “to walk in someone else’s shoes” to life. Their shoes and their voice really allowed me to focus on their story as I walked around a city we both could relate to, albeit in different ways.
However, even with the best intention to walk in someone else’s shoes, literally or as an expression, I wonder how many people are genuinely able to empathise with other peoples experience? How many metaphors, lived experience testimonies, video recordings, articles etc are needed for us to understand and empathise with others? To what extent do our judgements about other people play a role in determining if we empathise with them or not? Or do people have to go through a similar experience to ‘truly’ understand an experience other people have long identified?
While empathy can be learned and developed upon, harmful societal attitudes and judgements also need to be addressed and changed. Because it becomes quite comical how some people’s lived experience becomes validated when someone else goes through a similar experience. Active listening is key. But that’s a conversation for another day.
