Empathy: The Feeling of Humanity

Social media is flooded with inspirational speeches, messages, quotes and pictures. But it is very rarely that something touches me and moves as much this speech by Angelina Jolie.

I remember watching this video and every single word that she said stuck with me, the originality of her emotions and genuineness of her tears:

“I will never understand why some people are lucky enough to be born with the chance that I had to have this path in life and why across the world there’s a woman just like me, with the same abilities and the same desires, same work ethic and love for her family, who would most likely make better films and better speeches. Only she sits in a refugee camp and she has no voice. She worries about what her children will eat, how to keep them safe and if they’ll ever be allowed to return home.

I don’t know why this is my life and that’s hers. I don’t understand that but I will do as my mother asked, and I will do the best I can with this life to be of use”

The line that affected me the most and keeps repeating in my mind is

“I don’t know why this is my life and that’s hers”.

It is an emotion that I can resonate with a lot. It made me think about all the women around the world in general who will never be given the chance to do something great in life, or to pursue their passion or follow their dreams. They are not given the same opportunities as some of us have and their full potential will never be realized as they struggle for basic survival. It made me think that many times when we accomplish something, we think highly of ourselves. We are proud of what we have achieved or who we have become, we forget that we are where we are because of the opportunities we got or how blessed we have been able to do what we want to do with our lives. We take something so big for granted, having the privilege to have the possibility to even pursue our goals and to not be concerned about basic survival needs.

What this video highlighted the most for me was the emotion of ‘empathy’, the ability to identify, relate and experience the feelings of others.

This emotion is perhaps the most beautiful and humane emotions all, yet it has become the rarest to find. In today’s modern world, we all live in our little bubbles, where life revolves around one’s being. All we care about is us, our own accomplishments, success, dreams and aspirations. We think about how to get ahead in life, how to get the best job, to make most money and how to even get famous. Many forget that there so many people struggling to even survive, they can’t even afford the luxury of dreaming, feeling inspired or setting a goal in life. They go through life simply breathing, barely making it through. But of course why would that matter to anyone who sits in a comfortable home, thinks about his/her life plan, has a list of their own accomplishments and goals to meet, friends to support and a family to rejoice with.

Empathy is an emotion unknown to many in my generation and even worse for the younger generation. The ability to feel for others, to understand and comprehend what they are and what they go through is slowly fading away from our lives. The lifestyle that we live in makes us self-absorbed and selfish. What others go through is none of our business. The less fortunate, the poor, the displaced, the sick, and suffering become topics of discussion and fancy charity events. We choose all of these as medium to further advance one’s own profile and to impress those who are in place to benefit us.

What I see is a world reduced to who can benefit us vs who serves us no purpose. We do nothing for the sake of kindness and humanity.

Empathy is important even in everyday life. We would do things differently and deal with people differently if we understood the struggles people go through. Maybe someone (a colleague, friend, client, boss, classmate, or anyone) is going through a loss, a hard time, crisis, sickness or problem they don’t talk about. The bottom line is everyone is going through something, they are the way they are because of a reason. You may have no idea what they are going through or what challenges they may have to face every day at home. You would respond to a person differently if you could empathize with them. If you humanize their condition, the situation you are in may change. Instead of antagonizing the angry, rude or unfriendly person, we may understand the pain, the struggle they might be going through. Empathy can allow you relate with those you may view as the ‘others’. It allows you to feel compassion, mercy, and love instead of hate, anger and ignorance. It allows you to relate with others through a humane connection.

It’s the lack of empathy that starts wars. It’s the lack of empathy that makes us ignore a homeless. It’s the lack of empathy that destroys relationships. It’s the lack of empathy that instills hatred and intolerance. It’s the lack of empathy that makes monsters out of people.

It would make world such a better place if we would just think from another person’s point of view, or allow ourselves to see world through their eyes. It would allow us to see how many different realities can exist at one time. We would be less judgmental, more tolerant and understanding

It would give us perspective.

It would make us realize how small we are yet how great we can be. It would allow us to see how connected we are with each other. As humans we all share common feelings, common emotions and that is what binds us.

Maybe if we could learn to empathize we can see that the world is not just about one person. Maybe we can learn that success is not just about entitlement but it’s about recognizing how lucky and blessed we are. We can learn that with success comes responsibility. The responsibility to give to others, to contribute to the world through helping others and to live a life awareness.

“To empathize is to see with the eyes of another, listen with the ears of another and to feel with the heart of another”. Empathy is what makes us human.

Photo from: https://open.buffer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/empathy3.jpg