Empathy

Empathy

We are not all going to have empathy for others all the time. In recent weeks friends have lost their homes, and in recent days, we watched families lose loved one as they lost their lives in the plane and helicopter crash. These huge traumatic events can rip at our hearts and help us feel great empathy for our fellow man.

And there is also today's empathy for the person who has trouble making it up the stairs, because of crippling arthritis, or for the child walking to school with her head down. Everywhere there are opportunities to warm our hearts to the person who is suffering either physically or emotionally, if we look.

Self empathy is a practice where we pay attention to our own selves. We give notice to our loneliness and pick up the phone to connect with a friend who is going through loss. That gesture also brings comfort to the comfort giver.

The Statue of Liberty always reminds me of empathy, a figure holding up a torch, and the words,

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Today it might be a good idea to hold on to empathy, even for those who don't get the message.