Empathy

This writing will express my opinions, and support behind my opinions, this in no way factual, and I do not mean to be rude in any way with the belief you are about to read. This belief is that I do not believe in empathy, it’s just not something I think that human beings are capable of doing. I’d like to address why I don’t believe in empathy, if it’s worth it try to be empathetic, and an expression that you should be careful with.

Understand that you understand nothing. This is something I live by, and it means that I do not, and will not, understand how someone feels if I haven't been through it. I say this because I've gone through things in life, and whilst going through it, I got the feeling of "no one understands." I didn't mean this negatively exactly, I just say that people, really just don't get how I feel, it's not their fault though, they haven't been through it, why would they understand? That's common sense, and after talking to other people that have had problems that are big, such as cancer, depression, or something of the sort. They agree, people just cannot put themselves in shoes that do not fit their feet. If you, and hopefully you never do, go through anything really bad, even small, if people haven't been through it, they can't emulate that in their mind. It's just not humanly possible to create such emotions in the brain and not have them be real emotions. Then is it worth it to be empathetic? The answer you'd expect is probably no, however, if you're reading this sentence you already know where I'm going. Yes, there is value in trying to be empathetic, I purposely use the word trying. As long as you understand that you cannot perfectly understand, you can try to put yourself in a situation, you can attempt to make yourself go through that of which you have not been through. There is a chance you will get a extremely low understanding of the person's situation, and one is more than zero, that's progress. The problem is forgetting that it's an extremely low understanding, this leads to a dangerous expression. "I know how you feel." This is an expression that is extremely dangerous to use when you do not, understand. It's a blatant lie that can hurt someone, because first you say that, and they might feel like they found someone that can relate, but then they quickly understand you really don't understand, and it hurts to lose that. I believe all humans have some sort of mono-phobia, the fear of being alone. I've said before, humans were not made to be alone, this is why we have a shadow. Do not use these five words if you do not understand how someone feels, and if you do understand, if you have been through it, then use examples, ask them what you felt in a way that implies "is this how you feel?" they will more likely than not say yes, or some sort of "how did you know?" Then maybe you can say you've been through it, and that you somewhat understand.

To restate, this is a subjective belief, maybe you disagree with me and have your own facts to back up your disagreement, which I’d love to hear, I wouldn’t mind to be proved wrong on this one. Anyways, with this I hope you understand why I don’t believe in empathy, why you should try to be empathetic, and to be careful with the words “I know how you feel.” With all of that said, thank you for reading, I’ll see you next week, peace. Original