Empathy Can Change the World

Empathy is a choice, an opportunity to put yourself in someone else's situation. To view the world through the lens of someone else's circumstances. Empathy is the ability to think about what someone else is going through, imagining yourself in that place. Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another. Empathy is being there for people, who are your closest friends, or someone you don't even know. Empathy takes work, it takes practice. Empathy requires each one of us to stop thinking only of ourselves, and to start thinking of others. In our world, everybody has a need for empathy, whether it is great or small. Every day, in every school, students are made fun of, outcasted, looked down upon, and made to feel worthless. Life can be lonely at times, it's important to feel like someone has your back. We judge people when we do not understand them. People say sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you, as if that were true at all. Empathy towards others encourages hope, encourages love, or encourages tolerance. Love people's feelings, even if it doesn't mean anything to you, it could mean everything to them. Empathy shows the people that are hurting that someone cares, and that they are not alone. Instead of putting others in their place, put yourself in their place. No prescription works like empathy can. We must step out of our comfort zone, and be the reason someone smiles today. Empathy is like a wildfire, a simple spark can ignite a chain reaction of compassion. Empathy can change the world, starting with just one person, and that one person could be you.