The Power of Empathy. William Yuri, founder of the Harvard Program of Negotiation,

tells a marvelous story in one of his books. A young American living in Japan to study Aikido

was sitting one afternoon in a train in the suburbs of Tokyo. The carriage was half empty. There were some mothers

with children and elderly people going shopping. Then at one of the stations, the doors opened,

and a man staggered into the carriage, shouting, drunk, dirty and aggressive. He started cursing the people and lunged at a woman holding a

baby. The blow hit her and sent her into the lap of an elderly couple. They jumped up and ran to the

other end of the carriage. This angered the drunk, who went after them grabbing a metal pole and trying to wrench it out of its socket.

It was a dangerous situation, and the young student readied himself for a fight.

Before he could do so, however, a small, elderly man in his 70s, dressed in a kimono, shouted hey to the drunk in a friendly manner.

Come here and talk to me.

The drunk came over, as if in a trance.

Why should I talk to you? he said.

What have you been drinking? asked the old man.

Saki, he said, and it's none of your business.

Oh, that's wonderful, said the old man. You see,

I love sake too. Every night, me and my wife, she's 76, you know, we warm up a little bottle of

sake and take it out into the garden and we sit on an old wooden bench. We watch the sun go down and we look out to see

how our persimmon tree is doing. My great-grandfather planted that tree. As he continued talking,

gradually the drunk's face began to soften and his fists slowly unclenched. Yes, he said,

I love Persimmon's too. And I'm sure, said the old man smiling, you have a wonderful wife.

No, replied the drunk, my wife died. Gently he began to sob. I don't got no wife. I don't got no home, I don't got no job, I'm so ashamed of myself.

Tears rolled down his cheeks. As the train arrived at the student stop and he was leaving the train,

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