Empathy is the tendency to comprehend what others feel emotionally
Empathy is the tendency to comprehend what others feel emotionally. It is a quality that allows you to see things from another person’s perspective. Empathy means to put yourself into someone else’s shoes and imagine yourself in their place. It is the ability to feel feelings of other people without experiencing them first hand.
In most cases, people are self-aware about their emotions and feelings, but empathy lets them understand the suffering of others and their respective emotions attached to it.
Empathy is not a general reaction to the suffering of others. Some people react with indifference to other’s pain while some don’t. This justifies why empathy is far from a universal response to human suffering.
Empathetic people are excellent and attentive listeners because listening well leads to a thorough understanding. They are the go-to people in times of distress and for seeking advice. Empathetic people are great helpers. They are always there for whoever needs them. They do so because, before every decision, they ask themselves one question; how i will feel if someone refuses to help me in need?
They understand other’s pain as their own. However,they may easily be consumed by other’s suffering. Setting boundaries is hard for empathetic people. They have a habit of keeping themselves in other people’s shoes, which often leaves them with feelings of personal distress and exhaustion. Their ability to care genuinely always leaves them feeling drained and overwhelmed.
Human history is filled with events of bloodshed and cruelty inflicted by humankind. Ignorance and indifference towards other’s suffering aren’t unfamiliar to us. We are capable of being utterly selfish and cruel. A peek into our surroundings reveals unkind, brutal, and disgusting crimes being committed all around. There is a general lack of remorse and guilt in people.
In such a society, practicing empathy can have a significant impact. It can help to minimize the atrocities we inflict on one another. as utopian as it sounds, only a society built on the foundations of empathy can indeed survive and thrive.