Dr. Courtney Rivard and William Gattis - On compassion (clip)
Interviewed on March 26, 2025
Courtney Rivard (CR): Mr. Gattis, you make me think about the ways in which a fear that I have about how knowledge is getting formed today, and in the future, right? If Wikipedia is gonna prevent us from using these direct experiences because it’s about secondary sources, well that’s fine, it’s an encyclopedia, that’s it’s genre, but if that’s being used as the data that’s going to be used to shape the knowledge when our children, my children, google something, that glossing is gonna be the dominant narrative, right? So, you are making me feel like this is more important than ever to kind of force it in there, right, so thank you.
William Gattis (WG): I think the word might be compassion. Even Dr. King said, “Our worth is not in being uncomfortable, the challenge comes when we have the uncertainty and the challenge is facing us.” You see, that’s where you prove…when it’s all good, yeah, you okay, and I have had people talk to me about “Oh, yes. I’m in. I know” but you’re comfortable, you are entitled, you have everything, you have the blessings, but when they are taken away, that is when you have the worth and proof of a person, when your future is uncertain and when there are challenges in front of you, how do you stand as an individual, as a person, as a group?
