Empathy

April 7, 2016

Empathy?

It is just one word.

It contains only three syllables.

Yet it is the enabling factor in my mind that allows me to not only see myself,

but to also see you.

When my mother cries in her room,

I give her a hug,

and the warmth allows her to form a smile.

When my father aches in pain from working late shifts.

I ease his pain by making him some soup.

Most of all,

when I see a stranger in the streets.

Begging for change,

or pleading for food.

My heart aches in pain,

for I see myself as them too.

Empathy is not just a word.

It is a feeling.

I can empathize with you,

and put myself in your shoes.

Remove this way of thinking,

and I'll walk past someone without a single thought in mind.

I could not bear to look at myself,

if I could not empathize.

For the world needs empathizers,

or we'd all end in a chaotic boom.

If you asked me what I couldn't live without?

Well if I lacked empathy, I could live without you.

To live, without empathy, would not be living at all.

Just another human being taking oxygen...from the air.

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