A president of Meharry Medical College, Dr. John E. Maupin Jr., said in 1999:
One of the single most impressive aspects of Dr. King's character was his uncanny ability to see life through the eyes of others. Everyone's view is often quite different, and he understood this. It was this special gift that allowed Dr. King to walk with kings, yet keep the common touch.
He did not criticize white people. He understood they were as they were because of their backgrounds and experience. He appealed to whites as good neighbors:
The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers.
He was saturated with empathy and he requested that whites feel the same empathy towards blacks. He was merely requesting that white Americans live up to their professed ideals. King proclaimed:
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let us not talk of tolerance. Let us promote empathy. Tolerance is something competitive people have. Empathy is what cooperative people, like King, show.
Tolerance means "as a black, you are an acceptable member of society, but that does not mean I need have anything to do with you," "you go your way and I'll go mine," and "I won't bother you if you won't bother me." Only highly competitive people who are excessively concerned with themselves, think and act this way. Unfortunately, this is how the vast majority of white Americans behave.
Empathy is another concept entirely. Empathy has been missing from the black-white relationship in the USA. The lack of empathy is responsible for blacks feeling so alienated. Empathy means "why don't you join my club?" "tell me how I may help you," and "let's get together to solve this problem." Empathy is a sign of a cooperative person.
Tolerance is passive: you don't have to do anything. Empathy is active: you take an interest in the other fellow.
Let us follow the cooperative approach. Let us all honor and celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. - the King of Empathy - by displaying empathy to all, regardless of color, religion, ethnicity or sex orientation.
