How humans express
empathy was shown through all of the videos and books that were read. Humans
express empathy in multiple ways towards many different people. Choosing a
picture of people holding hands represented that empathy because in tough
times, people come together as one. Showing empathy can go from a simple
apology to somebody giving up parts of their lives. The more empathy that is
shown from person to person the closer everybody comes to becoming one. The
more empathy there is the better living on this earth will be.
The Laramie Project
is a great example of expressing empathy because not only was it shown through
person to person, it was shown throughout a whole community. There was hate
from some of the community and there was also a lot of love in that community
as well. In the beginning everybody had their own opinions about what happened
to Matthew Shepard, but in the end many were giving their love to Matthew and
his family for what had happened. Even Mr. Sheppard was giving his love to the
boy, Mr. Mckinney, who killed his son. Mr. Shepard was showing empathy through
his heart and his words. “I would like nothing better than to see you die, Mr.
McKinney. However, this is the time to begin the healing process, to show mercy
to someone who refused to show any mercy. Mr. McKinney, I am going to grant you
life, as hard as it is to do so, because of Matthew” (Shepard). He badly wanted
Mr. Mckinney to get punished for the crime that he committed, but he mostly
wanted him to live with the guilt for the rest of his life every single
day. “Mr. McKinney, I give you life in
the memory of someone who no longer lives. May you have a long life. And may you
thank Matthew every day for it” (Shepard). That stakes an extremely strong
person to do something like that. That was the most powerful part in the book. When
Matthew got murdered, his family felt alone. Nobody liked the person that
Matthew was and didn't know what the family was going through. Once the town
realized how horrible this was, they came together as one. The people that
still hated on the situation were in shock at what happened when the attention
turned away from them, onto other. People in the community dressed up as angels
and stood in front of the protesters so their signs would no longer get press
and attention from the media. Which is what the tag was representing. They were
respecting Matthew and his family to show their empathy for the horrible act
that ended his life. “I mean, these are people trying to distance themselves
from this crime. And we need to own this crime. I feel. Everyone needs to own
it” (Jedadiah Schultz). And they did! They town eventually did own up to this
crime. They thought they didn't live in a town where a crime like that would
happen, but a town can’t always stay perfect for forever and they started to
realize that and were all giving empathy to the situation, Matthew and his
family. More understanding and less judgmental. They become one community.
Empathy is not always expressed from human to human. It
can be expressed with anything that somebody loves. For example, in Seven Pounds, Emily had a Great Dane dog
that she loved. She didn't love it just because it was a pet; she loved it
because she could relate to Duke. Great Danes, like Emily, have a heart
condition so she feels that she can connect with Duke in that way. Emily tells
Ben when they are sitting in the field that is the reason why she got Duke,
because it is comforting to her to know she is not the only one who is not
healthy. This time, nobody owed that empathetic feeling to her; she did it to
herself and made herself feel better all on her own. What Ben did for Emily is
not even describable. The most common way of giving empathy is usually through
an apology. Ben did something way beyond anything anybody could imagine. He
gave his body parts to those that were fighting for their lives for those body
parts. Giving his heart to Emily saved her life. That isn't even a favor, what
he did was a miracle given to Emily. She asked Ben why he was so nice to her
and why he was taking care of her so well and he said, “because I get the
feeling that you really deserve it” (Ben).
Ben felt that he completely ruined his life, so he should give life to
those who could make the most of it because they haven’t ruined their lives;
they’re the ones fighting for theirs. That is an extreme example of empathy but
that is an example of an amazing person.
Craigslist Joe
is all about a community becoming one. Joe, who starts off his journey all
alone ends up meeting so many amazing people. He becomes a whole new person
from his trip. Realizing that there are people out there that will help out
those in need. It was a shocking thing to see the reality of random strangers
almost automatically becoming a good friend just from an ad online. It seems as
though, the world is so caught up on ourselves and technology that maybe there
is no chance for people to communicate or help each other out anymore. “Some
say we have lost the sense of community that used to carry us through tough
times” (Garner). That sounds like a sad realization that none of us want to
believe is true, so Joe wanted to prove that theory wrong. He wants to prove
that there are good people out there, and we can take care of each other. Generously
people would offer and offer some of their belongings, food, and even a place
to stay to Joe. Watching that was a comforting feeling because sometimes it is
hard to know if there people out there who would do that to anybody. “We can
take care of each other” (Garner). At the beginning he questioned if we could
take care of each other, and at the end he proved that we can! Not
everybody is going to give away some of their items, but that’s not what this
world needs. We don’t need everybody to be the same because being different is
what makes us, but if there was a good majority of people that were like the
people in the video, this world would be a much better place.
The
process of healing through other people is an amazing example of how to express
empathy. Having friends and family be there for support is a great thing, but
to have those people surrounding you and actually healing you through an
illness is amazing. This process of healing through other people was shown in The Ceremony. Tayo was really struggling
with P.T.S.D, and felt really lost in life because he felt like he didn’t fit
in because nobody else was struggling with that illness like he was. Tayo never
believed that he could be cured. He never believed that any of it worked
because one of the medicine men who tried to cure him before, didn’t help him.
He
finally found a medicine man, Betonie that actually ended up being his really
good friend and eventually curing Tayo! “Being alive was all right then. He had
not breathed like that for a long time” (Silko). Tayo being cured was a
process; he wasn’t healed in one day, it took time. Tayo liked noticing how he was
getting better and that he was making process! He became really close with the Betonie
while he was healing and he really enjoyed being able to connect with somebody
because in Tayo’s town he was known as different because of his race, but Betonie
was the same race as Tayo, so he felt comfortable finally. “You don't have anything
if you don't have the stories” (Betonie). Betonie took Tayo through a “ceremony”
to make him see that he does have a reason to live. Telling stories is what
helped Tayo a lot. They made his eyes open to the world and realize that he is
not alone. It is amazing to see that people can heal other people. Just with
some story telling it can turn somebody’s whole life around, which is incredible.
Love
is something you can see and feel, but it is possible to just feel it, and to
just see it. It doesn’t have to be both at the same time. This is proven in Seven Pounds. A character, Ezra shows
that loving is possible by just feeling it in the heart. Since Ezra couldn’t
see, feeling it in his heart was all he could do. He was an amazing man, who
was proven and Ben noticed. Ben had to make sure that Ezra was a good man to
make sure that he was giving his parts to a person who well deserved the part.
When Ben gave him his eyes to see, Ezra’s whole face lit up. It was the most
amazing scene ever. He could now look at the love surrounding him. Feeling love
through his heart without seeing it is incredible, but he now being able to see
it is something else. It takes somebody very special to be able to do that.
When Emily saw Ezra for the first time with Ben’s eyes she started crying. In that
moment they were both giving and showing each other empathy because they both
understand what each other have gone through. It was a journey for both of
them. They could now live their lives again and become somebody new. Somebody they
always wanted to be because they were a whole new person! They were the same
loving people at the same time, but more complete again. Giving body part to
human to human made them all become one. It brought them all close. Even with
the death of Ben, Emily and Ezra could understand each other and understand the
meaning of life now. It was beautiful to watch something like that.
People
don’t have to go to the extreme of giving up their lives for other people to
show their empathy towards one another, but all of these examples showed multiple
ways how empathy can be expressed. Storytelling, listening, giving food,
shelter. Anything kind towards another person is EMPATHY. Just showing love to
somebody is empathy. It is a beautiful thing because it truly does make people
become closer as one. Empathy can be described as something simple, but it can be expressed in many many ways which is the best part about it! Human love is something that cannot be described because it is too beautiful to even be described. It can definitely be something that is confusing, but it is incredible. That's for sure.
