blog de Catherine Cadden

As an activist, I want to share my experience of the practicality and effectiveness of empathy and Nonviolent Communication when working to protect our rights as citizens of the United States. On October 26, 2001, the Patriot Act was signed into law, giving new powers to both domestic law enforcement and international intelligence agencies. At the time, I was running a 501(c)(3) organization: an alternative school for K-8 students. The school was unique in that its foundation and function was based on the tenets of nonviolence. As an educator, I was devastated and uncertain how to explain to my students what the Patriot Act meant for their lives and their families’ lives, directly and indirectly. As an officer for a non-profit, I fell under immediate suspicion for terrorism, simply by association.

We are currently in 14th Place
and need 795 more votes to be part of the final 10 ideas presented at our event in Washington, DC.  Every time I connect to the possibiity of Bridging the Empathy Gap moving into the realm of the tangible I almost can't sit still.   Imagine a government with officials skilled in empathy, listening to the needs behind the message...as a school teacher who has taught American History and Civics for over a decade I tingle at such a reality....the idea of a republic...where our represtentatives represent the people by understanding their needs....WOW!   ...this was just a touch in with everyone inbetween getting votes, planning for the steps after we are one of the ten, and packing boxes for my big move from California to North Carolina...yep, North Carolina...a mere 4 hours from the White House...

I feel so excited I can barely sit....and that is actually all I've been doing at my computer the last fours...letting people know it is time to vote.  I simply feel electric for this possibity...when read and reread teh proposal we wrote tears come and I have to give myself a breath or two to center to the task at hand...I am so deeply connected to hope, inspiration....and community...I just want to say that working with this team has lit a new hopeful fire for social change and the work NVC cann offer....Deep bow of gratitude to Sylvia, Miki, Jori, Kathleen, Inbal, and the others behind teh scene...what joy to work together!

in 1996 while finishing my philosophic proposal for Temba. I was living at my friend’s Michelle and Glen’s home when I was finalizing on paper my ideas for a new kind of school I wanted to start where students experienced an integrated curriculum with a daily practice in nonviolence. One day I was sitting on their orange plaid sofa grappling with how I wanted an articulate way for people to connect with each other and tangibly practice nonviolence when my mind drifted to an experience I had had a few years back in a local public junior high.

During my credential program at San Francisco State I assisted temporarily in a sixth grade class. I attended a staff meeting in which there was discussion of how to work with students’ behaviors because recently a gun had been discovered in a locker.