Empathy

There are a lot of Facebook memes. Some are not so insightful; others, very much so. There was one awhile back that really struck me: "Can't find a nice person in the world? Then be one yourself."

In some ways, the person who is routinely denied empathy (or who is denied empathy at a far higher rate than other people) is the person who perhaps, above all, could be said to have a duty to show the most empathy. After all, they have something--an insight--that most people don't: They know what it's like. That sounds prosaic in the saying. In the living, it's extraordinary. The insight is not accessible to other people if only obtainable through correspondingly inaccessible experience.  

A year or so ago, I had a personal policy that for every cruel thing someone said, I would pick up 100 pieces of garbage. That way, I could convert hurtful words into flowers. Lately, I've begun to think the response need not be so strictly quantified. Nor need it be framed as a heavy moral duty. It does just fine as a guiding principle: When no one else is willing to extend empathy or understanding, how about you (me) doing so? You don't really have an excuse.You, more than anyone else, know what it's like.

When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a person who poured love into others. I will be that person this week.