Empathy 2014 style

  A friend sent me a link to a TedX talk by Roman Krznaric - "How to start an empathy revolution" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT5X6NIJR88#t=466
This 17 minute talk is excellent and requires us to consider the value of empathy and how it has floundered, particularly in the last 10 years. Through history however, there are numerous examples of people pulling together and there are innumerable projects spreading across the globe right now promulgating the benefits of empathic relationships and leadership.
  We are natural empathisers. The disinformation spread by the misinterpretation of Darwin's 'survival of the fittest' to mean we have to fight and compete, has falsely denied us our true heritage - Love. When we empathise, our bodies produce more oxytocin, a hormone which supports heart health and promotes a sense of well being. Physically therefore we are wired to be of use to each other. Altruism is also natural. Afterall, in tribal times we all needed each other in order to survive, "no man is an island" (John Donne For Whom the Bell Tolls - see below). Nothing has really changed in that respect. It is in our interest to help each other, each and every individual's survival depends upon it. This we need not only to remember but to promote, develop and expand. It is no longer right or just to sit back and say someone else will do it, what can I do on my own? These thoughts are irrelevant now.
  Love thyself as thy neighbour. We are all one. What I do affects you and vice versa. When I have self respect, I shall respect you and the earth upon which I walk. When I love myself I will no longer blame you for my 'mistakes' or any  'misfortune'. Taking full repsonsibility is not something we are taught, quite the opposite. It is therefore threatening and frightening to do at first but without this positive attitude of assertiveness and empathy we are all doomed to a quarrelsome existence.
  To further quote John Donne (1572-1631) a metaphysical poet:
No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
John Donne, Meditation XVII