H E L L O !

I believe in curiosity.  I believe in wonder - asking “what do you think?” and meaning it.  I believe in the value of perspective.  If we are not curious about the experiences of our fellow humans, how do we ever come together?  Empathy is, to me, like the tiniest figure nested deep inside humanity’s matryoshka doll.  It represents the essence of what it is to be human, the ancient core inside the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

In his short story The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling (2019), Ted Chiang imagines a world where people can record their entire lives in a “lifelog”.  A new search tool for these recordings, “Remem” serves as a substitute for episodic memory, bringing up recorded video pertinent to the user’s thoughts and conversation.  The story explores the dynamic between a father and daughter who remember a pivotal moment in their relationship differently, which has since colored their interactions moving forward into the present.  Upon reviewing the recording, the father discovers that his memory did not align with reality, to his chagrin.  He remarks, “People are made of stories.  Our memories are not the impartial accumulation of every second we’ve lived; they’re the narrative that we assembled [...] I wondered, if everyone remembered everything, would our differences get shaved away? [...] It seemed to me that a perfect memory couldn’t be a narrative any more than unedited security-cam footage could be a feature film” (p. 208-209).

Can we believe in empathy and in truth?  Can we say “yes, what we feel is true” if what others feel must then be wrong?  In an often quoted line, F. Scott Fitzgerald observes that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.  One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.”  Perhaps, if we wish to eat from the tree of knowledge, we must first believe “I don’t know.”

I believe that two things can be true at the same time.  My patients can be dying, yet still alive.  Information can be a rising tide, yet also a tsunami.  A patron’s beliefs can offend me, yet I can serve him.  In a world increasingly intolerant of such paradox, professional DEI values and initiatives espoused by librarians echo the importance of perspective.  As defined by MLA in its Core Values, inclusion means “all individuals are treated fairly and respectfully; are intentionally valued for their distinctive skills, experiences, and perspectives; have equal access to resources and opportunities; feel a sense of belonging; and can contribute fully to the association’s success”.  Indeed, libraries are creating and leading these conversations; ALA’s Libraries Respond resources demonstrate this on a national level.  

To me, empathy melts away the concept of “doing the right thing” - if you can let go of being right and get curious about the experiences of others, you can hardly go wrong.

Attributions for images used on this page:
Icon Lauk, ID, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ralph, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://pixexid.com/
John Melven, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons