Commentary: Is empathy saving America or tearing it apart?

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Growing up, my house backed up to a park with a teeter-totter, the kind that was little more than a steel pipe with two wooden boards as seats.Yeah, I’m that old.

When I was little, the up and down was hours of fun.But bouncing from sky to dirt in a bipolar fashion loses its charms with endless repetition.

As we grew older, my friends and I would try to balance instead, making the bar hover horizontally off the ground through a mix of physics and what seemed like magic.That, folks, is my metaphor for life, America and this particular column.

America needs balance, no matter how difficult it is to achieve, no matter if we topple a few times trying.And no, I don’t mean finding a moderate political middle ground — there’s no middle ground with hate.

We need to be both empathetic toward our fellow Americans while at the same time having clarity about the seriousness of our political moment — what is possible and what is not, what is practical and what being a decent human requires of us.Empathy and clarity.

Not one or the other, but both, in equal measure.Let me explain why I am making this obvious point.

There is a new attack underway by the far right that some of you may yet be unaware of.Those who seemingly disdain values I hold dear — solidarity, compassion, freedom — have launched a war on empathy.

The posada was a moment of hope and happiness amid turmoil, and a reminder that not all law enforcement officers see immigration status as a measure of worth.Yes, empathy, the ability to share and understand the feelings of another — the gateway drug to emotions including mercy, and values including tolerance and justice.Some on the right have gone so far as to declare empathy a sin.

That may sound like a bad Christmas joke, but it’s true.This tantrum against our ability, maybe even obligation, to recognize others’ experiences is a strange and sad offshoot...