Professor Kirk notes that beginning in day care, Cuban children are socialized to watch out for the weakest, to empathize with others who are less fortunate. ..
Cuba’s robust medical internationalism contradicts the common-sense, bleak view of human nature, the dominant narrative of hyper individualism and the profit motive.
I suggest that we remain open to the possibility that some cultures are compatible with the lived expression of empathy while other cultures suppress it.
Cuba’s practice of moral medicine is the world’s most compelling example of empathetic solidarity. Despite overwhelming odds, this small country of 11 million people has taken empathy from the abstract realm and brought it down to earth. We court both personal and national peril by not learning more about it.
by Gary Olson,
