This week I was listening to a podcast called Invisibilia while working on projects.  The episode that i was listening to was titled something like Frame of reference.  In this episode they at three segments in the first one the host introduced the episode by talking about how important reference or context is in shaping the individuals world.  This context is what often leads to misunderstandings of how people can perceive things differently  and how some may come off as insincere to someone’s situation.

Of course as i listened to the podcast I thought I knew where they were going with this.  Maybe they would tie it into the recent political environment or social/cultural rifts.  I was however wrong as the host began the next segment with an interview of a comedy central news show correspondent Hasan Minjah.  In this interview  the host and guest spoke of the relationship with immigrant parents who viewed the world from a completely different perspective or reference that at first glance seemed to belittle their daily concerns or struggles.  I found myself empathizing with both of them and and making connections to my own experience with people in my life that seem to lack the ability to see things from my perspective.

While listening to this podcast I couldn’t help but think about a act on Dave chapelle’s new comedy special.  He begins by talking nostalgically about the care bears and how they solve problems by using their super power which was caring hence the name.  As i kid i never really thought much about it( the care bears), hell i didn’t even remember that caring was their super power.  Back then it really did not seem like caring could be a super power.  I mean come one every one has the ability to care or have sympathy.

With that thought running through my head the third segment began with the introduction of a 54 year old doctor who began to tell the story of her childhood.  She told the story of a troubled childhood as she struggled to fit in and always tried to figure out ways to adapt and almost treated it as an experiment or investigation.  She eventually figured out ways to make due socially and chalked up previous experience to her higher intellect being hard for others to understand.  Well the story takes a turn once the women discovers she has Asperger’s disease.  She comes to this conclusion by taking part in an experimental medical therapy for depression.  This therapy involved magnetic pulses that would activate certain regions of the brain.  A set of questions and phases where presented to her before as a control and after the therapy to measure results.  These question and phases were set up to mimic real life scenarios that were examples of heightened emotions ie. fear, happiness, concern.   The guest discussed one of the examples as a some one “asking is that a gun?”.  It was not until after the therapy began and the same phase was presented again that it was a person being robbed in this example.  This context was totally new to her as before she read the statement as if it was a generic question with no emphasis or concern.  She was overcome with emotions that she had never felt before and suddenly realized that not only was she missing a significant part of human interaction but that all of her childhood troubles to fit in more than likely stemmed from her minds inability to pick up on subtle emotions that conveyed what a person is truly communicating.

At this point I realized that I my self have not truly appreciated the ability to care.   This women, who never experienced it before presented it like it was more than just a default ability to pick up on subtle emotional cues inherent in everyone.  It was a super power.