Reviving Empathy

Why a lack of empathy threatens the fabric of American society.

With nearly one hundred thousand lives lost to a pandemic, one would think reflection on mortality is in order, not that case in 2020 America. Lives are endangered by disgruntled shelter in place protestors, or speed of reopening, neighborhood vigilantes, even law enforcement. The racial undertones and discrepancies in response are obvious. Mask-less protestors (white) carrying assault weapons were met with calm and deference, while Ahmad Aubrey (black) was murdered running in his neighborhood, and George Floyd (also black) killed by police officers.

Some may view these acts as independent and disconnected, yet the aggressors in all cases lacked a critical quality needed to emerge from both racial violence or a pandemic, empathy. A lack of empathy empowers someone to walk into a crowded space without a mask. A lack of empathy empowers someone to stop and kill an innocent man. A lack of empathy allows police to view a suspect as less than human. A lack of empathy is fracturing America.

Empathy, sharing and understanding the feeling of others, allows society to enact protections for those most vulnerable, be they members of a group susceptible to a virus or a racial minority. Understanding debilitated, immune compromised, or elderly individuals are threatened when they see someone without a face mask or not social distancing. Understanding that black folks fear nearly every encounter with those in authority or armed white men. Understanding the feelings of others allows you to disconnect from yourself, if only briefly, and view the world through the eyes of another.

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