The world we live in is so fast paced and desensitized that we are losing our sense of humanity. Our society has so many types of people that are classified by class, race, gender, and religion and we are so locked in our own niche classification that we often don’t care for others outside of our own. Between different groups of people, there is always some kind of animosity which can stem from something negative like hatred or greed or power or maybe there is just an ignorance about a group different from us. Whatever it is, humans often don’t care for others not like themselves. This world we live in lacks empathy and empathy is something I believe in greatly.
Empathy is defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.”
I believe in empathy because I feel it’s a basic human characteristic that we all must do better to express. There are so many groups of people that are facing injustices and prejudices and hard times that it is our duty as fellow human beings to take a step back and try to empathize and understand the struggles and pain others are feeling because we might be fortunate enough not to face them ourselves.
A big reason I believe in empathy is because I lost a member of my family to an overdose in 2018. He passed away at age 25 after struggling with addiction for many years. Addicts are a group of people who are often looked down upon and dismissed by society because there is such a lack of empathy when it comes to addiction. Addiction is a sticky topic and debate on whether it is considered a legitimate illness or a choice but when you are close to someone who faces an addiction, you don’t really care to pick a side.
People that think of addicts as lowlife nothings that have nothing going for them have obviously never took a step back and thought about how and why they ended up an addict, what challenges they face on the daily and how their lives have changed due to this addiction. Joey was not a lowlife, he was 25 and had a whole life to live, he had dreams and people to meet- he obviously did not want to live the lifestyle he did. I don’t know why he made the choices he made but I know that he had to have been in a dark place to resort to using substances to feel even the slightest bit better.
I believe empathy is something we need to start expressing more. This is an ethical value that I hold with great importance. Empathy is an important value in any career, but especially in news and media. Those that cover these tragedies and sensitive topics must remember that those affected are human just like they are. These bad things happen and different groups of people are judged. These things need to be covered, but how the media covers and presents them to world is so important. Empathy is a natural human characteristic we all possess and we must do better and express it as often as we can.