one night of empathy
The word is out, and that word is empathy.
On February 28 at 7:00 p.m. at the Z. Alexander Looby Theater, The Humanity Project will present “One Night of Empathy,” an event which features Nashville Mayor Megan Barry and artists representing the entirety of Nashville’s theatre community. The evening will be a celebration—a celebration of diversity, a celebration of similarity, a celebration of humanity.
This evening, this “one night” represents a starting place for The Humanity Project in its effort to spread, teach, and model empathy. But it is so much more than one night, so many more steps will be taken from this starting place.
For those who join us for this special evening, we will ask you to do two things:
First, suspend yourself for two hours. The laundry will wait. Kroger will still be open. You can like the photo of someone’s cat on Facebook when you get home. Essentially, forget about your world for 120 minutes… and peer into the worlds you will see on stage. By allowing our own issues and “to do” lists to fade to the periphery of our minds, they shrink, and we increase our capacity for connection, our capacity for empathy.
Second, we will ask you to take empathy with you, to create your own conversations wherever you may be. This is how we make ripples on the pond of misunderstanding. This is how we make a difference.
As noted American Tibetan Buddhist Pema Chodron says, “We don’t set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people’s hearts."