Who in the world cares?
Most of us are guilty of this often overlooked crime towards humanity. I first realized that I was guilty after a drive down Albemarle Road one hot, muggy day in June 2007. I was running late. The a/c system in my vehicle had just gone out. According to the announcer on the radio, the temperature had just reached 101◦. As sweat raced down my face, I pulled up to the stop light. My kids were complaining about the heat, and why we had just passed McDonalds and Pizza Hut. As I glanced over to my left, I noticed a frail old man with a cardboard sign in his hand. “Oh no”, I thought. Although, it was hot, my first impulse was to quickly roll up my windows. I put my hand on the window control, as he started to approach me. “I don’t have anything,” I began to yell, trying to discourage him from coming any closer. “Mommy, we have money,” my daughter argued. “Can he go to McDonalds with us?” she innocently asked. “I feel sorry for him,” she concluded. “Yeah, I do to,” I said, as I drove off.
As I arrived home I began to think about the old man. We quickly entered the comfortableness of our nice cool house. I wondered if the man was still holding the sign in the 101 degree heat. Then my mind shifted, I began to think about my daughters. What life lessons had I just taught them with my reactions to this man? We all have witnessed some form of hunger, homelessness, violence, and war, either in our personal lives or through the media. These images have affected our way of thinking in many ways. As a result, we sometimes feel sympathy for the person but, fewer times are we empathetic. Empathy beckons us to move, or change. Empathy allows us to feel so deeply towards a person or a situation that we must do something.
There is a difference between sympathy and empathy. The definition of empathy is a total feeling of concern and understanding for another’s situation or feelings. Empathy means to literally “put yourself into someone else’s shoes.” The definition of sympathy is the sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish) There are many different situations that compel us to say, “I feel sorry for that person.” However, empathy compels us to take action. One may argue, that empathy has no place in this “Personal Success” driven world, (Rieke, Sillars p.117) However, we have to realize that our world is a society that relies on interrelatedness. Contrary to that opinion, we should in some form, or way be able to help someone else. Perhaps, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best:
“Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.”
(Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963.)
The media has played detrimentally significant role in our empathy towards those in need. Its called -"DESENSITIZATION". Its when you are shown certain images over and over again that it desensitizes your emotions. Unfortunately, misfortune and violence has been aired out so much on television, that some of have become desensitized. We have become well acquainted and comfortable with seeing images of malnourished children staring at the lens, while flies swarm about their little mouths. On any given day, you can turn on the TV. and watch a homicide being reenacted. Some magazines focus more on the shade of lipstick than medicine for the poor. The change must begin within each individual.
Most of us are guilty of this often overlooked crime towards humanity. I first realized that I was guilty after a drive down Albemarle Road one hot, muggy day in June 2007. I was running late. The a/c system in my vehicle had just gone out. According to the announcer on the radio, the temperature had just reached 101◦. As sweat raced down my face, I pulled up to the stop light. My kids were complaining about the heat, and why we had just passed McDonalds and Pizza Hut. As I glanced over to my left, I noticed a frail old man with a cardboard sign in his hand. “Oh no”, I thought. Although, it was hot, my first impulse was to quickly roll up my windows. I put my hand on the window control, as he started to approach me. “I don’t have anything,” I began to yell, trying to discourage him from coming any closer. “Mommy, we have money,” my daughter argued. “Can he go to McDonalds with us?” she innocently asked. “I feel sorry for him,” she concluded. “Yeah, I do to,” I said, as I drove off.
As I arrived home I began to think about the old man. We quickly entered the comfortableness of our nice cool house. I wondered if the man was still holding the sign in the 101 degree heat. Then my mind shifted, I began to think about my daughters. What life lessons had I just taught them with my reactions to this man? We all have witnessed some form of hunger, homelessness, violence, and war, either in our personal lives or through the media. These images have affected our way of thinking in many ways. As a result, we sometimes feel sympathy for the person but, fewer times are we empathetic. Empathy beckons us to move, or change. Empathy allows us to feel so deeply towards a person or a situation that we must do something.
There is a difference between sympathy and empathy. The definition of empathy is a total feeling of concern and understanding for another’s situation or feelings. Empathy means to literally “put yourself into someone else’s shoes.” The definition of sympathy is the sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish) There are many different situations that compel us to say, “I feel sorry for that person.” However, empathy compels us to take action. One may argue, that empathy has no place in this “Personal Success” driven world, (Rieke, Sillars p.117) However, we have to realize that our world is a society that relies on interrelatedness. Contrary to that opinion, we should in some form, or way be able to help someone else. Perhaps, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best:
“Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.”
(Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963.)
The media has played detrimentally significant role in our empathy towards those in need. Its called -"DESENSITIZATION". Its when you are shown certain images over and over again that it desensitizes your emotions. Unfortunately, misfortune and violence has been aired out so much on television, that some of have become desensitized. We have become well acquainted and comfortable with seeing images of malnourished children staring at the lens, while flies swarm about their little mouths. On any given day, you can turn on the TV. and watch a homicide being reenacted. Some magazines focus more on the shade of lipstick than medicine for the poor. The change must begin within each individual.
Proverbs 31:8 8 "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. 9 Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."
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