Kevin Woster

I have a hard time believing that anyone would say, as @elonmusk did, "The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy." In fact, the fundamental weakness is a lack of empathy. Many years ago, a spiritual director told me that sympathy is understanding how you would feel suffering someone's misfortunates. Empathy is understanding how they feel. Compassion is being willing to suffer alongside them. A lack of empathy is at the heart of our mistreatment (and mockery and growing hatred) of the poor, of migrants and refugees, of LGBTQ people, and of all those on the margins. It is not only a lack of imagination; it is also a fundamental lack of mercy towards those whom some consider "other." One basis of contemporary Western civilization is capitalism. I'm a @Wharton grad and a capitalist. That means that I believe capitalism is the most efficient system of distributing goods and services to the most number of people. But it's not perfect. How do we know this? Just look at the millions of poor people around the world. What capitalism, the free-market system, laissez-faire economics and Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand" lack is a sense of empathy for those who are suffering. (They used to be called at Wharton the "transitional poor," as if, at some point, everyone would soon share in greater prosperity.) Empathy led us to create safety nets for those that capitalism fails. But now those nets are being shredded. James F. Keenan, SJ, the moral theologian, once described compassion (which, from the Greek, means to suffer or experience with) as the willingness "to enter in the chaos of another person's life." This is what Jesus always did whenever he encountered someone who was seen as "other": a Roman centurion, a Samaritan woman, someone suffering from leprosy, anyone who was sick, the poor. Empathy, as well as compassion, were at the very heart of Jesus's public ministry. This is also how we are called to live. The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is a lack of empathy. As Jesus said, "Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice'" (Mt 9:13).

Senator @RandPaul is the incoming Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security. We met today to discuss how I will work as Secretary of Homeland Security to make America SAFE again. And we will work together to make our nation safe and secure in the years to come.