Opinion

My Young Mind Was Disturbed by a Book. It Changed My Life.

Louisa Gallas | Michigan

Thank you, Mr. Nguyen, for pointing out how book banning narrows empathy for ‘the other’. How American need to strengthen their ability to tolerate the truth of our history. The discomfort of difference. To be able to discuss at school boards and the PTA more generously what people find disturbing or life-giving in controversial books. Research has shown that people who read fiction do, indeed, expand their empathy for the characters and situations unknown or alien to them. As a therapist and poet, I think the deep backstory of this crisis around book banning, CRT, the fear of ‘discomfort’ shows how fragile people are, how easily we freeze our beliefs about others. How little skill and fortitude we have in difficult dialogue so we run from conflict. The ‘other’ comes up with friends, family where empathy gets disappeared in favor of estrangement. The current divisions over books lean toward an even deeper backstory. The need to demean others as inferior or exaggerate them as a menace. James Baldwin spoke piercingly about empathy. “Why do you need me to be a N-R, because I am a man.” And Thich Nhat Hanh wrote such wise words about our interconnections and the personal work we must do to achieve empathy. “You are me, and I am you;Isn’t it obvious we inter-are. You cultivate the flower in yourself so I will be beautiful. I transform the garbage in myself so you will not suffer.” His books changed my life.