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Beyond the Loss: Life and Identity After a Child Dies
Over time, the conversations we choose to have begin to reflect what matters most.
If you’ve been part of this podcast, you’ve heard me speak about human development, systems thinking, and the ways we make meaning of our lives and work. That work continues—and remains at the core of my coaching and professional practice.
What has changed is the space where I am choosing to have a different kind of conversation.
After the death of my son, Michael, I felt called to create a more personal place—one that speaks directly to the experience of loss, and to the questions that emerge when life no longer looks the way it once did.
That space is now Beyond the Loss.
This podcast is for parents who have lost a child, and for those who support them. It is not about fixing grief or finding closure, but about understanding how we continue to live, to make meaning, and to become—after loss.
If you are looking for my current podcast,
you will now find me there.
I invite you to join me on Beyond the Loss.
You are welcome.
Beyond the Loss: Life and Identity After a Child Dies
Episode 268: Compassion and Vengeance with Dr. Andrew Bard Schmookler
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The images on the news are heartbreaking, regardless of which side you support. People killed, displaced, trapped beneath the rubble, children screaming in fear, entire families gone. These scenes are horrifying, but so are the responses from many of our political leaders, who so often speak of retaliation and vengeance. Today on The Other Side of Potential, we ask: what does it mean to have compassion in the middle of all this conflict?
For this episode, we are joined by returning guest, Dr. Andrew Bard Schmookler, a prize-winning author, speaker, radio talk-show host, and former Democratic nominee for Congress in Virginia. Since the late 1960s, Andy has investigated the ways that both constructive and destructive forces operate in civilized societies.
Join us as we discuss the role of compassion, Andy’s hope for a “more ordered” future, the systemic forces that perpetuate brokenness, why solving war and saving democracy are critical for our survival as a species, and more!
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The innate destructive force of civilization and why Andy advocates for compassion.
- Changes that are taking place in our society and the hope for a “more ordered” future.
- Why it’s important to acknowledge that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
- Differentiating between the role of human nature and systemic forces in our broken world.
- Sources of goodness we can draw upon, including spiritually transformative experiences.
- Insight into the battle between democracy and fascism.
- The developmental movement versus the battle between brokenness and wholeness.
- How war generates a self-perpetuating system of brokenness by creating trauma.
- Why “solving the problem of war” is critical for our survival as a species.
- The paramount importance of saving democracy and the rule of law.
- Reflecting on whether it’s possible to educate people to self-govern.
- Andy’s belief that vengeance and compassion can be combined.
Transcript: Here
Additional Resources:
Website: abetterhumanstory.org
YouTube:
Books:The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution
Out of Weakness: Healing the Wounds That Drive Us to War
Sharon Spano:
Website: sharonspano.com
Facebook: facebook.com/SharonSpanoPHD
Instagram: instagram.com/drsharonspano/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sharonspano/
Book: thetimemoneybook.com
Contact: sharon@sharonspano.com
The Other Side of Potential Podcast: sharonspano.com/podcast/