Thought-Provoking Videos About Empathy, Compassion, and Service
published 1/6/19; updated 8/3/22
by Catharine Hannay, founder of MindfulTeachers.org
Continuing the popular series of Video Playlists for Teachers and Teacher Trainers, here are a variety of perspectives on communicating across difference and serving others in sustainable and effective ways.
Teachers, please note: With such a multicultural audience teaching young children through adults, I can’t guarantee that all of the videos will be appropriate for your particular context. I’ve put brief descriptions to help you choose, but please preview anything you plan to share with your students.
In this TEDX talk on How to Have a Good Conversation, award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee explains how to listen respectfully and learn from people whose opinions may be very different from our own. (Ms. Headlee expands on these ideas in her book We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations That Matter.)
A diverse group of people from Denmark show that we may tend to put each other in boxes, but there’s a lot that we have in common.
All That We Share: Springfield Primary
Student video inspired by “All That We Share.”
All That We Share: Hertford Regional College
Student video inspired by “All That We Share.”
Anti-Hate Mission After Leaving KKK
A former Ku Klux Klan leader had a change of heart from bigotry to compassion.
The next three videos are from a BCC III series of Things Not to Say to various types of people: "We've all been faced with stereotypes depending on our appearance, background, beliefs or conditions." (This is an uncensored series with mature themes. The ones I've included here have occasional strong language but otherwise I don't think there's anything your students would find offensive.)
Things Not To Say To Someone Of Mixed Race
Participants discuss their reactions to insensitive comments and questions. For example, “I've had somebody come up to me. Not talk to me, talk to the people I'm with, and be like, 'Where did you get this exotic creature?'"
Things Not to Say to a Deaf Person
Participants discuss their reactions to insensitive comments and questions. For example, “Are your other senses heightened?” “No, I'm like practically blind without my contact lenses.”
Things Not to Say to Someone with Cancer
Participants discuss their reactions to insensitive comments and questions. For example, “If someone had cancer and lost a limb, but now they're running 500 miles in three days... so it's like, ‘Look, you can do that, too.’ But when you're feeling tired in a hospital bed... that is not at all motivating."
The next four videos are from Scope's 'End the Awkward' Video Series, based on the real-life experiences of people with different types of disabilities.
Five Awkward Things to Avoid Doing When You Meet a Disabled Person
A group of people with different types of disabilities talk about how they've been avoided, insulted, and asked overly personal questions.
What Not to Do... in a Job Interview
An interviewer of average height gets overly flustered by a short-statured observer from head office.
What Not to Do on a Blind Date
A woman is surprised to find out that her date is blind. The man is surprised that she's SO LOUD. (He's blind, not deaf.)
What Not to Do in a Convenience Store
A demonstration of sensitive and insensitive encounters with people who have different types of disabilities.
Football Team Protects Bullied Girl
When a popular football player found out that a younger student was being bullied because of her brain disorder, he and his friends invited her to join their lunch table.
At One High School, No One Eats Alone
“A high school senior started a unique club called We Dine Together to make sure no one in his school sits alone at lunch.”
Africa for Norway--Warmth for Xmas
Children in Norway face many challenges in the winter. "They catch colds. They slip on ice. They even get their tongues stuck to frozen metal. As an African, you may think, 'What can I do to help?'"
(This satirical video was created to raise awareness of how stereotypes about Africa can impede effective relief work.)
Ian Breckenridge-Jackson was a student volunteer helping to clean up after Hurricane Katrina. Over the years, he's changed his opinion about the benefits of that experience.
You might also be interested in:
the type of volunteers that are and are not helpful in Haiti and How SOIL Haiti Is Different from organizations that have spent large amounts of money on failed projects; and
How the Pandemic Changed Voluntourism (some people like it better this way)
Uniting the World Through Volunteerism
International student Nipuna Ambanpola has had very positive experiences as a volunteer.
From solving to serving to surrender: Nimesh Patel
The founder of Empty Hands Music describes how he always felt unfulfilled despite his success at an elite university, then in a high paying job, then as a rising MTV star. He decided to take his life in a completely different direction.
(Unfortunately, the sound quality of the song "Being Kind" at the end isn't great; you might want to stop this video at 13:36 and play "Being Kind" from the Change the World playlist here at Mindful Teachers, or from the Empty Hands Music website.)
A Life Lesson From a Volunteer Firefighter
Mark Bezos discovered that you don't have to be a 'hero' to make a difference.
Lebanese American tenor Karim Sulayman holds a poster asking passersby for a hug or a handshake: "You can trust me to care for you no matter who you are, what you look like, or where you are from. Will you embrace me as willingly as I embrace you?"
Related Posts
There are many more video playlists and thought-provoking perspectives on compassion, diversity, and serving our communities here at MindfulTeachers.org, including the following posts: