California Driver Education Lesson Plans
Lesson of Empathy
Lesson of Empathy
By Angela Cruz
It was a typical, hot day in Fresno, California. I was about ten years old. I had asked my best friend to ride our bikes to our favorite spot, the canals. I felt like a real adventurer in my overalls and with my hair pulled back in a ponytail. We raced down the rode on our rusty bikes. The neighborhood was mediocre but it was our place of adventure.
Once we reached the canals we got off our bikes and began exploring. When we finished wading in the shallow waters we sat on a pipeline that was behind a concrete wall. The concrete wall acted as a barrier from the overpass. Out of boredom we came up with what we thought was a genious plan. We decided that we were going to fake out the next car that drove over the overpass. My best friend climbed over the concrete wall onto the street. She was clearly visible to the cars that drove over the overpass. I stepped up on the pipeline so that half of my body was above the concrete wall and the other half was below. I had a good footing on the pipeline.
As soon as the next car drove past I began pretending that I was struggling to hold on. I wiggled and held onto the ledge of the wall as if I was falling. My friend held my hand as though she didn’t have the strength to pull me up. The car shrieked to a stop and the man from the driver’s side jumped out and at that same moment I stood up on the pipe. I raised my hands and shouted “hooray.”
The look of stricken horror on his face stays with me to this day. I was completely oblivious to the fear that I would cause when I came up with plan. But at that moment I realized how cruel it was. It was my first lesson in empathy and it wasn’t my last.
Why did I share this story? I often see in the classroom that children honestly can’t foresee the consequences of their actions. It isn’t until we have real life experiences that we internalize values and morals. Essentially, I believe that as educators, community leaders, and parents we need to offer our children a safe place to make mistakes. Sheltering our children only leads to children learning these crucial values later in life and hindering them from developing coping skills.
When I experienced my first lesson in empathy I didn’t need a long lecture. I internalized the consequence because I saw the expression on the man’s face that wanted to help rescue me. It is okay to let our children make mistakes and it is okay for them to experience real life consequences for those mistakes.
California State Parks: Russ Christoff visits Fort Tejon State Historic Park
