Empathy is reflected in the photos of the world-famous photographer who shared that emotion during his keynote presentation at the CUNA Finance Council Conference in New York City.
Time, New York, and Wired are among the many magazines that have published images by the photographer, who goes by the single name Platon.
During his long career, he’s captured the lives of world leaders and celebrities at their most vulnerable moments.
Among the lessons learned from his celebrity encounters:
Platon also shared photos of political figures, from nearly every corner of the world, and was careful not to take any political stance.
“I think it’s our moral obligation to debate our differences, but to do it with respect and not return to our own filter bubbles and echo chambers,” he says.
Platon says that starts with empathy.
He left the audience with a question: “Are we to be bystanders like moths dancing around someone else’s flame, or are we to be upstanders, where we light up the darkness ourselves with our own compassion? Perhaps then we’ll earn the respect of history.”
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