I saw a clip from a story on the news about a kindergarten class that starts each day with the students looking each other in the eyes and greeting each other with a handshake.
The eye contact part was not only cute, (one little boy widened his eyes as he looked intently into the eyes of his classmate), but it struck me as vitally important to seeing each other as human beings.
Making eye contact with another human being is impactful, creates respect and mutual acknowledgment.
How often as a society do we actually make eye contact with each other? With the rise of technology, I find that this eye contact becomes less and less normal. In fact, we often avoid making eye contact at all.
Even among those who are supposed to be the closet to us, eye contact is becoming rare. Think about it. How often do you spend time actually making eye contact with your loved ones when you’re in conversation? I would be willing to guess that it’s not often. The majority of us talk while looking at our phones, the t.v., iPad, laptop, etc.
We’re just so distracted.
Could it be that this lack of actually looking at each other is playing a big part in this desensitized society? When we stop seeing each other as valuable human beings, it becomes easier to lack empathy and emotion.
What if this particular kindergarten is on to something? What would happen if we looked up or away from our technology and actually looked at each other. What would we see? Would we start to realize the pain, emptiness and loneliness in those around us? Would we empathize and not ostracize? Would it help us see each other as another human being?
After all aren’t the eyes supposed to be the windows to the soul?
Maybe it’s time for us all to be doing a little more soul viewing.
The eye contact part was not only cute, (one little boy widened his eyes as he looked intently into the eyes of his classmate), but it struck me as vitally important to seeing each other as human beings.
Making eye contact with another human being is impactful, creates respect and mutual acknowledgment.
How often as a society do we actually make eye contact with each other? With the rise of technology, I find that this eye contact becomes less and less normal. In fact, we often avoid making eye contact at all.
Even among those who are supposed to be the closet to us, eye contact is becoming rare. Think about it. How often do you spend time actually making eye contact with your loved ones when you’re in conversation? I would be willing to guess that it’s not often. The majority of us talk while looking at our phones, the t.v., iPad, laptop, etc.
We’re just so distracted.
Could it be that this lack of actually looking at each other is playing a big part in this desensitized society? When we stop seeing each other as valuable human beings, it becomes easier to lack empathy and emotion.
What if this particular kindergarten is on to something? What would happen if we looked up or away from our technology and actually looked at each other. What would we see? Would we start to realize the pain, emptiness and loneliness in those around us? Would we empathize and not ostracize? Would it help us see each other as another human being?
After all aren’t the eyes supposed to be the windows to the soul?
Maybe it’s time for us all to be doing a little more soul viewing.
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