Empathy is described as the ability to understand another and their feelings. Most of us would like to think of ourselves as empathetic people. We root for the protagonists in movies, get upset when they get injured and happy when they get back up to defeat the antagonist. When our friends are hurting, we try to understand where they are coming from so they do not feel alone or even more depressed. It seems like some conditions of empathy are rooted in how we behave as human beings in the real world and to each other.
Medically speaking, if someone lacks empathy and struggles to communicate or relate to others then they could be considered to have signs of a mental disorder like Machiavellianism and in some cases even narcissism or psychopathy. People like this do exist in the world and their stories are shown extensively in true crime documentaries on Netflix or Hulu. This is however a completely different side of the spectrum, and many people living their regular day-to-day lives do not fit into these diagnoses.
We live in a world where we are constantly riddled with bad circumstances. From the moment we turn on the television we see the conflicts and wars that are going around in different countries around the world, the internal turmoil our country is facing that somehow seems to not stop or even get better. We cannot forget about Instagram’s lovely algorithm that shows us the most depressing post just as we feel like there is no possible way to go further down and hit rock bottom. I cry for everything, but many other people do not feel the same way when they see something sad on the internet or real life, and that is okay.
Empathy is not a linear scale of measure, and everyone has different levels of empathy within them, that could be from when they were born to the circumstances they’ve gone through during life.
You may even have to turn off your phone afterwards from consuming so much negative content and dissociate from the current situation to protect your peace. But today in society, it seems like there is a concerning amount of a lack of empathy, which can basically be viewed as a deficiency at this point.
Upon seeing or hearing bad news, there is a chance to be momentarily upset but then it is back to swallowing all that down and returning to your own life, because after all, it’s not you being affected, right? And that many times can be true. You’re not the one being affected, but that does not mean you should purposefully disconnect with that excuse and not care about what is going around in other places or countries and to other people.
Purposefully trying to ignore information that is directly in front of you can leave you to navigate this world in a blind, narrow minded way. If you choose to live this way, then your thought or opinion basically does not matter, both of which are imperative nowadays to call for change and accountability.
There are issues in the world that require change and this need for change can align with our principles and as a result, it is easier for us to support the cause, but what if a movement occurs that does not align with our beliefs but still affects a large majority of people? This is a question that is not easy to answer and something that does not stay in our mind constantly as we are going about our own everyday business. However, there is a strong chance, more likely than not, that there are times it does pass your mind, and this is due to the underlying empathy you feel for the people involved in the situation even if you question the movement it resulted in.
A lack of empathy does not have to only exist on a national or global scale. It can be when hanging out with someone, and you mention something that upsets you and the person tells you to get over it and how there are bigger issues to worry about. We have this terrible tendency to gaslight ourselves, but our feelings are very valid. And the same goes for the other side. It is so easy to sit back and let things unfold but sometimes it is more humane to lend a helping hand.
The uttermost perfect life and world does not exist and will probably never exist, but that does not mean we are completely far gone to at least show kindness to others or be understanding of the situations that they are in and go through, whether that be privately or publicly. You can still be educated and support causes or people even if you feel far away from them. Everyone does not have the same life as one another, but in the end, we are all humans, and that is at least one thing we will always have in common.
