Empathy – Sunday, June 07, 1998
Because we have all felt sadness and sorrow from time to time, we can learn the ability empathize with others. Although our individual difficulties are unique, feelings of disappointment, loss, and suffering are universal. Yes, we may not have been in the same situation or have experienced the precise problem of another, but we have all felt the sharpness of pain, the heaviness of heartache.
While each person’s lifetime journey is distinct from every other, the fact remains that we’re more alike than we are different. As human beings, we possess the inherent capacity to feel for others.
Children regularly teach us about empathy. One mother was surprised to receive a phone call from her eleven-year-old son at school who wanted to know if she could bring him his old coat. The temperatures had fallen below zero, and one of the boys who waited for the bus had been crying because his ears were frostbitten. Knowing the other boy’s family was poor and couldn’t afford to buy a coat, he gave the boy his new coat, hat, and gloves. He explained that he didn’t want his friend to be cold and uncomfortable.1
Most often, such acts of genuine caring occur quietly, largely unnoticed by the outside world. But in the inner workings and silent corners of individual hearts, the results can be profound. As Robert Coles has written, “For every grand and celebrated project, there are no doubt dozens of quiet movements by one person toward others.”2
Think for a moment of those people in your life who make a real effort to empathize with your circumstances; they listen with genuine interest and show concern and compassion. These are the valued friends we seek throughout life.
Much about life can be worrisome and troubling; but, amidst all the difficulties, there can be joy and hope for a better day—and so often it’s found in the empathetic efforts of another.
1Michaelene P. Grassli, What I Have Learned From Children (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1993), p. 60.
2Robert Coles, The Call of Service (New York City, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993), p. 51.
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June 07, 1998
Broadcast Number 3,590