1. Empathy (the ability to understand and share the feelings of someone else) is a necessary human emotion. Write a blog post that discusses empathy; what helps people be empathetic, describe a time when you felt empathy towards someone else/someone had empathy towards you, explain what makes it impossible to feel empathy for someone.
We have all had something awful happen in our lives. Along with the hardships comes the countless, empty "I know how you feel." We become weary of the lies, and we wish that someone would just understand how we truly feel without all the phony attempts to make us feel better. This is the reason empathy is so vital in our suffering. We need someone to talk to who really understands how we feel in the bad and the good.
In my opinion, the road to becoming empathetic starts with us having to experience our own trials in life. We faced a problem and came out of it knowing the mistakes we made and what we could have done better. Instead of regretting our mistakes, we can channel it into someone who is facing a similar problem and who desperately needs the help. We can use empathy to help others with not only advice, but with understanding as well. A genuine understanding of the big and little problems in life just makes you feel like you’re not crazy for feeling pain. Sometimes words or advice don't even have to take place for someone to display empathy. Sometimes, someone just being there will suffice. If you haven't experienced anything remotely similar to someone's problems, you can't display genuine understanding and you certainly can't display empathy.
Empathy is not just needed in the bad times, but the good as well. If you just won a basketball game after a previous season with no wins, then you want someone to understand how good you feel about it. Feeling happy is not nearly as good without having someone to share it with.
When my brother left for college, I thought it wouldn't be hard saying good-bye to my "enemy" of 13 years, but now, just thinking about it, it could make me cry. I know how hard saying good- bye can be and the feelings it arouses. I know what it feels like to be terribly wrong. And I know what it feels like for life to move too quickly. All of these feelings hurt, but the little comfort I find is in my mom. She knows what all these things feel like because he is her son. She knows the pain of saying good-bye to a chapter in life that was taken for granted for far too long. My mom and me both find some relief in each other's empathy.
We have all experienced hardships, but hopefully we've also experienced someone who is real, and doesn't put on airs to make us feel better. They gave us empathy that was much needed in a current situation in life. Hard times can be turned into a lesson learned that could potentially help someone who's suffering. Good times can become that much better when someone gives just a little bit of empathy.
Empathy is a much needed thing that is appropriate in any stage of life.
Terrific post! You are very mature for your years and I can see that in your words here. Thank you for sharing your personal experiences as well. I want to challenge you on something that you said though. You stated "If you haven't experienced anything remotely similar to someone's problems, you can't display genuine understanding and you certainly can't display empathy." While I agree lack of experience does not allow me to truly understand someone else's suffering, I think experiencing pain in anyway at all still allows me to feel empathy for them. I shouldn't pretend to know what they are going through, but I can still be there for them. Do you agree? Grade: 25/25
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