By KELVIN MBITI
Empathy is forgetting oneself in the joys and sorrows of another, so much so that you actually feel that the joy or sorrow experienced by another is your own joy and sorrow. Empathy involves complete identification with another. "Empathy is the greatest virtue. From it, all virtues flow. Without it, all virtues are an act." Eric Zorn. The greatest cruelty is our casual blindness to the despair of others. Love is about bottomless empathy, born out of the heart’s revelation that another person is every bit as real as you are.
The real test of love is loving those who we feel are the hardest ones to love. Empathy is one of humankind’s prized possessions. Acts of consideration and kindness are inevitable when a person can mentally step into someone else’s shoes. Even if it’s just for a moment. ''If we can get man to the moon, we can get man to walk in each other’s shoes.'' Mary Gordon.
Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up. Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had. Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing. Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another. The only way to change someone’s mind is to connect with them from the heart. Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus for creating change.
Empathy is a connection; it’s a ladder out of the shame hole. Money is not the root of all evil. A lack of empathy is. Empathy is the gateway; compassion is the way.
Love is the absence of judgment. A truly compassionate attitude toward others does not change even if they behave negatively or hurt you. “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD and he will reward them for what they have done.” Proverbs 19:17. “Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter, when you see the naked, to clothe them and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” Isaiah 58:7. “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is within your power to act.” Proverbs 3:27.
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