Loving the Stranger

We must come to understand that our love can also hurt another person. There is no assurance that because we have good will we can only bring about pleasure. This is a childish idea. To the extent to which we have learned to cope with this discrepancy in ourselves, thus far can we extend empathy to others and also help them to cope as well.

- Dr. Thomas J. Weihs

Weihs’ thoughts on love remind us in a poignant way that if we are to help young people along their journey from childhood to adulthood, then we must offer them the empathy and understand we can develop from an honest assessment of ourselves.

Loving the Stranger is a collection of talks and essays by doctors and teachers who have been involved with Youth Guidance as part of the work of the Camphill Movement. They are warm, deep and wide-ranging in content and challenge us to examine new ideas and adopt new approaches in our relationships with young people, many of whom may find themselves in difficulties during their journey through adolescence.