We Need Empathy
I feel the number one thing creating problems in our society right is the lack of empathy. The ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes is essential to a civilized society.
If we are going to “Do unto others as we would have them do unto us” then we have to be able to imagine what their life might be like.
It’s a monumental lack of imagination happening right now. We can’t be so arrogant as to think that we can understand someone by making assumptions based on what we see…or the stereotype that we lazily apply to someone based on how they look or act.
People are complicated. Covid taught us this, put it right in our faces. I realized during that time how much people were hurting, how afraid and uneducated on some basic life skills. People need education and caring and EMPATHY!
Will Rogers famously said that the Native American would turn around after passing someone to look at them from the back also. Will said “The white man doesn’t do that. He just imagines that both sides of the thing are the same.” Again, this is a huge lack of imagination.
We need to stop the arrogance of assuming we understand people, or the lazy thinking of “types of people.” We need to learn some things, and take a moment to imagine walking in someone else’s shoes.
That homeless person has a story and struggles we can’t possibly know from a glance. The scared person who feels the world is changing in ways they don’t like or understand needs to have conversations and meet people unlike themselves. The person who is frightened of all strangers needs to travel and leave their tiny neighborhood and learn about the world and other cultures.
I encourage you to take time to imagine walking in someone else’s shoes. What might their life be like? What challenges are they facing? This applies to people we like and people we don’t. People we understand and those we don’t.
Start by watching and reading a different news source. Stretch and meet people who are not exactly like you, who don’t think exactly like you, or live exactly the same way you do. It won’t hurt you, and it won’t destroy your life.
Only as we are uncomfortable can we grow.
Tim Hinton
March 21, 2025
