PIllow Method free essay sample

As a child I never could empathize with anyone. I could argue, understand, heartily debate a discussion from both sides but show no real love or loyalties to either side. Maybe Im missing the exact definition of empathy; I don’t know. Looking back, I feel like I was living an extremely unusual childhood where learning how to take either side was a matter of self preservation. It wasn’t until I began taking college courses that I learned how to share the feelings of others and actually find a belief of my own to hold on to. I also discovered that as a young girl I was using the technique called the pillow method without realizing that was what I had been doing. Apparently this method was developed by a group of Japanese schoolchildren, and gets its names from the fact that a problem has four sides and a middle, just like a pillow. We will write a custom essay sample on PIllow Method or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page An example of when I used the pillow method was when a friend and I were discussing the laws regarding marriage as a legal right via a popular social networking site. I found faults with his opinion that marriage was a personal choice between two consenting partners as opposed to a government controlled issue. The First Step of the pillow method is taking the Im Right, Youre Wrong stance, which is the first point I usually begin an argument. (regardless of the situation). As we continued talking, I tried to transition into a better, genteel way of getting my viewpoint across. Thereby, causing the conversation to progress to Step two, which is Youre Right, Im Wrong. I thought about everything my friend was saying and why he might think that marriage should not be a legally binding contract. I began to see that he had more valid points to his argument than simply parroting a political partys platform. After that. it was natural enough to carry the conversation to Step Three. In my opinion, Step three is easier to discuss than Step two. Step three is seeing that were Both Right, Both Wrong. At this point in our discussion, My friend and I began to have more of a heated argument but eventually began to compromise. Together we made a list of all the valid points of both sides of the issues verses the weaknesses of our perspective arguments. Throughout the course of the online exchange, we saw that there were a few perspectives that we both agreed on. Eventually we both came to the same conclusion (which was a part of Step four). The final step in applying the pillow method to a conflict, Step four is that The Issue Isnt as Important as It Seems As we continued to talk about marriage as a legally binding contact or a commitment between partners we realized that this was not a situation that we would be dealing with in the near future. Although it is one of todays more controversial subjects among our peers, we were able to see that both sides were correct, and by working together a better, more accurate perspective could be taken into consideration. I feel like after discovering that I have employed the pillow method my entire life, I have no more real empathy than as a child. Once again, it takes college classes to try and to connect on a deeper level with my fellow human beings.