Seeing Through Others Eyes
If you just learn a single trick, Scout, youll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks
. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it, Atticus Finch, a fictional character from Harper Lees Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
The easy definition of empathy is the ability to see through someone elses eyes. Some children are born more empathetic than others, but it is still a trait that can be fostered in all. Stories can be an excellent source for lessons on empathy. A great character-based, age-appropriate, story can help enlighten children and adults alike. Through characters in a book, the reader can glimpse how everyones mind does not work like theirs, others care about different things and react differently and expect different things.
On easy-to-understand tale is The King and the Thief by Paolo Tiberi. This story is one of eight from the authors Chronicles of King Argoz, Prince Ultan and Princess Maya. In this story a King has grown up selfishly and is unable to relate to his people because he has been separated from them his entire life. Because he doesnt know the peoples plight, the King has raised taxes and used the peoples hard work to finance his regal lifestyle. The King stays completely unaware of the hardships outside his castle walls for quite some time.
How did the King finally see that he was doing wrong by taxing and being uninvolved with his people? He stood in the rundown shack of a man, a villager from his kingdom, whom he had followed. The man had stolen, and the Kings first intention was to arrest him. Instead the King stopped and looked through the thiefs eyes. He mentally and emotionally put himself in the same situation as this father with a sick child and hungry family to provide for. He stood for a long moment soaking it all in, and it was too much for him. He broke down into tears.
The King looked like a vulnerable, broken man. He also felt like one. He had finally seen the world through someone elses eyes.
Are our children too young to do the same? Writing exercises and journaling can be great for upper elementary students. Once they begin to understand some of their reactions, a teacher can ask them to think of how a person from a different culture or background would feel about the same thing. For the very young, short stories or anecdotes can be read aloud and then time can be given for the students to draw the reactions or emotions of each of the people in the story. These pictures will probably be simplistic, and lots of anecdotes can be used to give children the opportunity to realize that others feel just as many differing emotions as they do. It may seem like it takes a while for empathy to become rooted in a child, but if its never taught, it'll never find a place in their hearts.
If you cant have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far, Daniel Goleman, author, psychologist and science journalist.
Chronicles of King Argoz, Prince Ultan and Princess Maya is the first of a series of riveting books in the Legends of Altai series by renowned self-awareness expert, Paolo F. Tiberi.
The book is revolutionary as it teaches kids respect, life lessons and values through storytelling, a language that all kids can understand.
The Legends of Altai is intended as a Life Manual for children and has been described as 'The Secret meets The Alchemist and the Chicken Soup for the Soul' rolled into one.
If you would like to get a FREE chapter showcasing the book narrative style and storytelling, please visit http://www.legendsofaltai.com
The book is available now through Amazon and the official website http://www.legendsofaltai.com
For more information on the author please visit http://www.legendsofaltai.com/pages/about_paolo_tiberi.php
by: Paolo Tiberi
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