The link below is a great article that really clarifies on what I mean by empathy.
http://www.cjr.org/analysis/journalism_and_the_power_of_emotions.php
As a daughter of immigrants that are of Hispanic descent, I had a unique perspective on what work was. We were never super rich but definitely had a work ethic that surpassed many.
However, I would get condescending looks by people who I told what my parents’ occupation was.
With a disability, I always struggled in school but got good grades, yet, by most of my teachers I was told that I was “smart but lazy”. I really did put an effort in school but my calm demeanor and results never showed it.
From my own personal experience, I knew that empathy was a much-needed trait to empower people.
In middle school, I was always the outcast and felt miserable. From the on, I became the type of person to talk to the shy classmate sitting at lunch because through my personal life I was taught empathy.
On a larger scale, empathy needs to be translated to marginal groups of people. I know there are arguments of personal responsibility but, as with anything, it can not be law of land because the way our society was based on, such a notion simply isn’t practical.
The way I see it if people understand what someone sitting next to them in the bus was going through, we would think twice about how we treat one another.
I attached this video from the movie “Hidden Figures” since it perfectly illustrates the necessity of empathy and the need to simply ask “why”?
