Skip to main content

We Need More Empathy!

I don’t like what I am seeing in the world right now. It has always been depressing to read the news but with social media always in my face, I feel even more sad about the state of humanity. Is it that more bad things are happening or am I just reading more about them?

Furthermore, it is not just the depressing headlines across the world that have me down but my encounters with the public in my daily life. Every, single, day, I put my blinker on to show my need to change lanes, only to find the car behind me speed up so I can’t get over.  Everyday I nearly get run over as I walk my dog because people can’t stop at a stop light (really what is the rush?).  Every time I go to the grocery store I nearly get run over in the parking lot because people can’t stop for a pedestrian trying to get into a store. WTH people? Why are you rushing so much?  

Everywhere I turn it seems like people are focused on themselves. It is like the world has turned into one gigantic ME-party. Where in the world did EMPATHY go? That, is what I want to know! What happened to caring about other people? Is it just too hard?

I am reading the news and we have a presidential candidate that wants to register all Muslims in this country, um hello, remember the mustached guy who did that and killed 6 million people? Remember what the US did to the Japanese Americans in World War 2?  The irony is that people agreed they would never let those autrocities happen again but here we are in 2015 and people are discussing lists. History is repeating itself once again!

I'm reading articles with disbelief. Women's Rights that were fought so hard for being taken away?  Why? Fear?  I can not believe the overall lack of empathy I'm seeing in the world! You have people who want to ban Syrians, these poor, poor people who had to flee their war torn country and you don't want to give them a place to stay after all of their suffering?

You’ve got crazy people who just pick up guns and shoot innocent people because our Senators don’t want to offend the NRA or the constitution. Where in the constitution does it say innocent people have to be worried about getting shot when they go to school, work, church or even the movies? Nevermind that after each occurrance we are basically saying their actions are okay because we refuse to change laws.

You have terrorists acting in the name of their god killing, raping and otherwise, using all kinds of horror in the name of their savior. You want to kick people out of this country because you don’t have the balls to make laws about how people enter this country. Never mind that they contribute to our society in a variety of jobs. So they came here illegally...who wouldn't want to come here...it's great! Penalize them and tax them. They are here, deal with it and change the laws going forward. To all of these people who have issues with immigrants I ask that you take a look at where you and your ancestors came from because I am pretty sure you weren’t the first Americans in this country, remember the Native Americans?

There have been countless wars and yet today, in 2015, it is apparent, we have learned absolutely nothing about how to treat one another. A war finishes and we all say we are never going to do that again but as time passes we forget. For once and for all, I ask people to get this fact through their thick skulls…We are all different. Yep, every, single, one of us is different. We practice different religions or no religion. We love different people. We have different backgrounds. We live in different countries. We have different ideologies.   We are different but you know what we all have in common? We are people. You, I, Them, we, all of us are humans. We are people of earth.

I know it is hard but learn to love the differences. We may never all agree or believe in the same thing but it is our duty as people, as citizens of earth to have EMPATHY, COMPASSION, and UNDERSTANDING for one another.

So my Christmas wish (yes, you may not believe in Christmas) as we enter 2016 is that everyone show each other a little bit of EMPATHY. You may not believe in Christmas but understand that I do and respect that (just as I respect what you do and practice). You know what? When you are good, kind, understanding of people, good comes your way. Instead of saying "that is never going to work" try coming up with another solution or another possibility. This is a good country, a country that is made up of many types of people and who for the most part are accepting of one another.  Just because a few aren’t and they are in power running for president, doesn't mean you have to follow.

Just in case you need the reminder, it is not okay to put people in categories because not all people fit in one category. As you head into this holiday season, ask yourself how you can have some empathy. I guarantee you will feel good about yourself when you start putting other people’s needs ahead of your own.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Buffalo Wild Wings

When I was going to Michigan State University, my friends and I would always go to BW3's for hot wings. They always had a variety of flavored wings from Honey BBQ to steaming hot, hot, death wings. Wings and a beer were just the thing to satisfy a busy student's appetite. When we frequented BW3's it was a dive bar but by the time my brother graduated from MSU they swapped locations for a building across the street and turned the name to Buffalo Wild Wings and the restaurant became more like a chain thing. Well, color me shocked the other day when we went to the movies and I saw a Buffalo Wild Wings being built in the AMC Burbank 16 complex. Apparently, after looking on their website they are one of the fastest top 10 chains in the US. So of course I had to introduce the hubby to one of my favorite college treats. I don't think he is so much a fan of chicken wings so we got boneless chicken wings a.k.a. tasty little chicken chunks in two of the flavored sauc...

Behind Door Number One

Have you ever watched those TV Game shows where they have a couple of doors and behind one is a grand prize? Well, this weekend the hub and I found out what was behind our Door #1. The hubby and I are starting the beginning phases of landscaping our backyard. Our first step, was to clean out the area behind our garage. When we moved in, there was about 2 feet of walking space behind our garage the rest of the area was covered in vines. Vines were growing on the roof and generally it was a mess. Not wanting the vines to take over the roof, we I started to clear out the vines last fall. But after we cut a million vines with only a pair of clippers we gave up and decided to clean out the rest in the spring. Spring came around and we didn't do much until one day when I was sick a few weeks ago, I ran into our gardener. I showed him the mess and asked if he knew of anyone who could come clean it out. I could tell he was actually, quite happy for me to broach the subject of ...

The Lost Art of Letter Writing

This week I was the recepient of two postcards. In the age of e-mailing and blogging this is a rare occurrrance. It's not that people don't write anymore it's just they are doing it in different forms and I think in less personal forms. It's kinda sad when you think about it. For me, there is nothing better then getting a hand written letter in the mail because it means someone was specifically thinking about you. Writing a letter these days takes a lot of effort when GMail is so near. I mean a person has to pick out stationary (if they even have any on hand), find time to sit down and compose a letter (and who has a spare half hour these days?), find or buy a stamp and actually walk the letter to the mailbox. With all this effort, no wonder people email these days! My girlfriend Becky and I joke that the United States Postal Service has become "Snail Mail." Most times before a letter gets to us these days we already know the information inside ...