Part I. Reflection: The Story of Malcolm X.
The following is found in your textbook on page 24 or in your eBook page 1-5b. Please read the scenario and reflect upon by answering the questions at the end of the passage.
As a young adult, Malcolm X found himself involved in a life of crime and drug addiction (X & Haley, 2001). While serving a 10-year prison sentence for robbery, he was introduced to the Nation of Islam, the Black Muslim religion headed by Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm readily gave up his former lifestyle and became embedded in the values of the Nation of Islam. He lived, slept, and breathed their values, and his identity became the values held by the Nation of Islam (Kegan’s interpersonal stage). However, as he developed and found new individuals to support him and from whom he could learn, Malcolm X realized that he did not agree with some of the ideas espoused by the Nation of Islam. Eventually, he moved from embeddedness in their values to a strong sense of his own religious, cultural, and moral values. Still somewhat closed to other points of view, Malcolm X had matured to the point where he could now embrace his own setoff values (Kegan’s institutional stage).
Following a pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm X changed his name to Al Hajj Malik al-Shabazz and again modified his views “to encompass the possibility that all white people were not evil and that progress in the black struggle could be made with the help of world organizations, other black groups, and even progressive white groups” (Encyclopedia of Black America, 1981, p. 544). Clearly, al-Shabazz was moving toward what Kegan calls his interindividual stage. He now could hear other points of view, be open to feedback, and yet have a clear sense of his own uniqueness in the world. Unfortunately, as occurred with many great people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, and Jesus, al-Shabazz was killed because others were upset that he had grown beyond the rigid and dogmatic beliefs he had left behind.
All of our lives change as we learn and grow. Consider your life: How has it changed? Have you moved toward embracing qualities more conducive to working with clients, such as being more empathic, less critical, less dogmatic, more accepting, increasingly open to other points of view, an increasingly complex thinker, and able to understand multiple perspectives on the world?
Part II
Please choose one of the articles to read and reflect on the following:
Read one of the articles below regarding the importance of empathy in the helping professions. Then, define empathy in your own words. How does your definition
