Vice President Leni Robredo on Wednesday urged Thomasians to remember their values and practice empathy through “servant leadership,” in a world dominated by social media.
“There is a need to look inwards, and set our hearts towards servant leadership and selfless service. [These are] old-fashioned values that can save our modern troubles,” Robredo said in an address to students and faculty members of the College of Commerce and Business Administration at the Medicine Auditorium.
Robredo said the world needs empathy, more than sympathy, to transform and heal society.
“What we need in our society is empathy, not just sympathy. The ability to listen deeply and to see oneself in someone else’s shoes. That is the kind of inner transformation that will heal our society today,” Robredo said in the forum that served as the highlight of this year’s Commerce Week.
Empathy has become lost in an emotion-driven society, where feelings and opinions are expressed in one-liner posts, and friendship is requested and then approved on social media sites, she said.
Relationships between the youth have become impersonal, hindering their ability to listen to one another because of the use of social media, she argued.
“I hear of many young people who constantly interact on social media with friends that they pass by silently in corridors,” Robredo said.
“Do not ever think that you are too young to transform our society,” she added.
Photo courtesy of Brian Daniel Mercado/UST Commerce Journal
