Leadership

The Struggle Staggers Us by Margaret Walker: Reading and Meditation

June 3, 2020  • Executive Leadership Seminars Department

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The Struggle Staggers Us, Margaret Walker

Meditation

There is a journey from the Me to You. There is a journey from the You to Me. The very definition of empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another — to embark on that journey from the Me to You. What does that journey look like? When have you felt others journey from themselves into You? How do you experience the union of two worlds when you embrace those who were previously Other?

The basic survival needs are generally considered to be food, water, and shelter. Walker, however, shifts the focus from what is necessary for mere survival to what constitutes our ability to thrive: bread, pride, and dignity. Our daily task and struggle is to provide our communities with these three necessities, to bring about justice and to live with empathy, all of which require that we surrender our own barriers to the others in our lives. In these moments of complete surrender and embrace we mark our years. How will you mark yours? 

Brianna Curran, Washington, DC

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