Care: Pros and Cons

CARE (YELLOW)
Pros
1. Empathy Can help us focus on empathy and on how others would want to be treated. A new person wants to be a part of your group/organization and others do not make an effort to invite them in and welcome them. You think “how would I want to be treated if I were a new person” and therefore make an effort to welcome and include them.
2. Self-restraint Can help us focus on self-restraint. A friend lies about you to protect themselves (e.g. tells others you cheated when you didn’t). You may feel that you want to do the same to show them how it feels, but you reason that even though they treated you that way, you would not want to be treated that way if you were them so you do not retaliate.
Cons
1. Speculation Hard to really know how others want to be treated. You may want someone to tell you very directly about something (e.g. a terrible haircut, how your family member was killed), but someone else might want to be told less directly, or even just comforted, and you might not know that’s what they want.
2. Justice denied Can lead to logical inconsistencies and a lack of fairness/justice. You need to decide whether or not to discipline (or even dismiss) group members who have a very negative influence on the group. For example, they are not doing their part, being very disruptive, etc. If you only think “how would I/they want to be treated” you may not make a fair decision for all involved.