Quote of the Day (Leslie Jamison, on Empathy as a Choice)

“Empathy isn't just something that happens to us - a meteor shower of synapses firing across the brain - it's also a choice we make: to pay attention, to extend ourselves. It's made of exertion, that dowdier cousin of impulse. Sometimes we care for another because we know we should, or because it's asked for, but this doesn't make our caring hollow. This confession of effort chafes against the notion that empathy should always rise unbidden, that genuine means the same thing as unwilled, that intentionality is the enemy of love. But I believe in intention and I believe in work. I believe in waking up in the middle of the night and packing our bags and leaving our worst selves for our better ones.” — American novelist and essayst Leslie Jamison, The Empathy Exams: Essays (2014)

(The accompanying photo of Leslie Jamison was taken at the 2014 Texas Book Festival, Austin, Texas, on Oct. 24, 2014, by Larry D. Moore.)

Quote of the Day (Leslie Jamison, on the Facebook and Actual Versions of Life)

“There’s the Facebook version of life, and there’s the actual version. Even though I feel really grateful for my husband and family, any utterly tranquil, blissful domestic tableau probably has its own complicated truth behind it.” — American novelist and essayist Leslie Jamison quoted in Ruth Shalit Barrett, “Where’s the Train Wreck?  Can Leslie Jamison Top The Empathy Exams With Her Mega-Memoir of Addiction?,” New York, March 19-Apr. 1, 2018

(The accompanying photo of Leslie Jamison was taken at the 2014 Texas Book Festival, Austin, Texas, on Oct. 24, 2014, by Larry D. Moore.)