M.E.

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Me

I wonder if it could be said that every bad decision we ever make starts with ME.  ME want.  ME need.  ME feel.

I've recently been drawn to watching shows like Lockup and the Investigative Discovery channel.  I've found myself fascinated  by the whys behind the things that people do to land themselves in a Federal prison charged with something horrendous like murder.  At first, the interest felt sort of like turning my head to glance at a car wreck when I drive by, knowing all along that I don't want that image in my mind.

I think what I find most fascinating in a disturbing kind of way is how almost every single case starts and ends with ME.  He dissed me.  He disrespected me.  He had more than I had so I took some of his.  She stole my boyfriend.  

The awful thing is that in listening to each of those individuals talk about their life in prison and how they got there, there is almost never any expressed awareness of the part that pride and self-first played in their crime.  And even after they are in prison and get into conflicts with other prisoners, their interpretation is most likely that it's the other guy's fault.

Each time I listen to one of these interviews, I come away from it thinking about the ME focus of the person's explanation for their crime.  ME.  Missing Empathy.  M.E.

We're missing empathy when we can't or won't put ourselves in another person's position or imagine what it would feel like if someone inflicted upon us what we're inflicting upon them.

Wouldn't it be amazing if someone could flip a switch, and we could all see the world and the others who live here with empathy and a desire to understand another's position, pain, fear or hopes?

I wonder if our prisons would be as full as they are today.