Empathy

Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. According to psychologists, there are three types of empathy: cognitive, emotional, and compassionate. Let’s look at the meaning of each of the three empathy types. Cognitive empathy is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought experiences, and the senses. Emotional empathy evokes a strong feeling, an example of which is a movie that makes you cry. Finally, Compassionate empathy is defined as showing sympathy and concern for others.

The focus of this narrative is related to compassionate empathy which seemingly does not exist in today’s society. Let’s first look at small things that people do that are disrespectful or show a lack of concern for others. Imagine being in a line at a store and the person ahead of you is loudly talking on the phone and holding up the line. The same happens at banks as well as restaurants while these individuals show absolutely no concern for your time or your personal space. Those of us that live in the Atlanta area may have heard or seen stories in the local news during the weekend of March 4 through March 7, 2021 (NBA All-Star Game) that focused on a number of unnecessary shootings and other criminal activities. Most of these acts occurred without regard for others. There has also been a rash of shootings on Atlanta freeways. I believe these acts of violence happen because people are in a hurry, going nowhere fast and their nerves are on the edge which in turn fuels a lack of compassion towards others.

Our personalities are who we are, and compassion should also be a part of who we are. A few years ago I saw a grandmother on one of the local news stations talking about her grandson who was in prison for carjacking an elderly woman. This grandmother told the reporter that her grandson was a good person and would give you the shirt off of his back. The grandmother was making these claims because her grandson was brutally attacked as a result of the carjacking. I do not condone this woman’s grandson being attacked. However, my question is did he not consider the person that he attacked? It’s imperative that we make compassion a part of our daily lives and our personality as we travel through this ever-growing, uncompassionate world.

Marvin Dixon/Founder
VMGREVIEW.COM