We are Them, They are Us

Hannah Arendt writes about “training your imagination to go visiting…it is the ground of all ethics” (67). She addresses the idea of feeling empathetic towards others and allowing oneself to be conscientious in actions and observations, in order to validate the existence of others as a part of this community. Whistleblowers experience this as “burden.” In this way, their narratives seem to focus on their loyalty, which they assess and being loyal to the organization, but might actually only be loyalty to self, as the whistleblower is not able to separate oneself from the organization and simply feels the shame through association. Therefore their claims of identifying with the victim are just as much refusals of the aggressor, or boss. Most do not specifically talk about who are they are serving, only in general ways and are thus narcissistic in the self. I feel that Alford is speaking in terms of whistleblowers only but it applies to humans in general, especially of those removed from situations. Before we started our service, we spoke about our partners in terms of ‘them’ and had specific ways of describing the general group we were serving. We may very well have been ignorant, unaware, judgmental. Some were not. We were separate and without a “bridge” of imagination and connection. Now, as our service has developed relationships, many share their stories and speak of individuals, often naturally referring to their names, like a friend. Classmates are sharing with a tone and voice not simply stretched to sympathy, but empathy, not only kindness, but compassion. We are feeling our trials, tribulations, celebrations, and victories. We are also feeling the obstacles and triumphs of the individual we work with, as if their success is our, our failures are there’s, and vice versa, all around. We are developing communites, that of course are not perfect and eternal, but absolutely necessary for us, especially in the desensitized, disconnected world today. We need to connect to the roots of our ancestors where the goals were for the whole, the group. Everyone belonged and everything was connected. Hopefully as a, achievement to our service, we all learn to see the vibrant connections within an organization, a community of people, a network of people. I hope we all see our role, no matter how far we may think we are removed from an issue or problem, the seeds are in our hands, the stems are tangled around us, and the roots are directly beneath us. We each have contribution to make, in correspondences to faults we all have.