Sunday Sentiments: Empathy

Hello steemians! It's a Sunday! (at least in my side of the planet) and I usually hustle and chase deadlines every Sunday since I'm working and studying at the same time, however, I miraculously have some free time today and I've done all my week's worth of reports so I decided to write in the blog. While I was thinking of a topic to write about, I decided that I'd make my "Sunday Sentiments" regularly from now on just so I could get in touch with more people (hopefully) and post something that COULD inspire or touch others; Coz isn't this the whole point of blogging? To express. To inspire. To influence.

This Sunday's sentiment is about Empathy. If you look into the definition of empathy in the dictionary, it says: The ability to share and understand the feelings of another. It is putting yourself in the shoes of others. It makes one understand another person's condition from their perspective.

On my way home from church, I saw a little girl on the street sporting untidy clothes and unkempt hair, begging for money. She was around 4 years old. On her left was a lady who I presume is her mother. I pitied the girl for doing labor at such a young age while her mother was sitting on the streets doing nothing. I started to get annoyed with the thought. But when I walked pass them, I noticed that the lady was crippled. And I felt bad. I didn’t even know their story and yet I judged them immediately. I wasn’t empathetic.

Sometimes, a grumpy boss is grumpy because he had a major argument with other members of the board for having bad sales during the past month. A friend of yours who enjoys teasing or annoying you a hundred times a day may be experiencing some inner struggles of his own. An over achiever at school who annoys the hell out of you for being the teacher's pet may have disappointed his/her own parents in other aspects of his/her life and makes up for it. A mother who didn't let her daughter go to a fancy party may be looking out for her daughter's safety. And the list goes on. All I am saying is, we all have our struggles. Most often than not, we tend to get disappointed with people who don't meet our expectations. We judge others easily with what we see. I have been guilty of this. I used to be that employee, that annoyed friend or classmate, that stubborn disappointed daughter, and those days were so difficult; I held feelings such as anger, disappointment, and frustration that weighed me down. When I grew older, I realized that life wasn't supposed to be so complicated. We get to choose our own battles. We get to choose how to react to certain things.
There is this TV commercial that I really like. It says, “The world is tough; don’t ever let it make you rough… Choose to be kind” True enough, if we all choose to be kind, maybe the world would be a happier place. Maybe no one would be misjudged, no one would have said hurtful words out of frustration or disappointment, and no one would have heard those hurtful words. If only we put ourselves in each other’s shoes, maybe we would understand each other more.
So the next time you find yourself in a similar situation, I hope you choose kindness. I hope we all see the bigger picture, the good in every situation. I hope we find it in our hearts to empathize because we never know what kind of crosses others are carrying.