Empathy
What does it mean to have empathy? Such a simple question, but it means to much more than meets the eye. Empathy, is the ability to understand and share feelings of another person. The possibilities of your shared experiences are endless, yet we find ourselves miles apart from others. I think everyone in the North Shore could agree that we live in an area where everything looks somewhat similar. Big, extravagant houses with nice cars parked out in front, people walking down the street, not nervous that they are in danger. In a sense, we are shielded from the rest of the world. We don’t experience the fear that people face as they walk down the street, wondering if today would be the day that they were going to be shot, or even worse, die. We don’t have to go to bed hungry, shivering on the floor of our apartment. We live comfortably, and we are extremely lucky for that. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the experiences of people living in area less fortunate than our own. Amidst all of the suffering and negativity that surrounds our world, people find comfort in their situations, commonly with other people who have experienced the same kind of things, Empathy.
Between the world and me has opened my eyes to problems of which I have never experienced, and things that I most likely never will. The experiences of Ta-Nehisi blew my mind as I read the book, thinking to myself, “how against all these odds did he make it out?” But he did. He mentions his connections with people, and how no matter the circumstances, he always had people. People who were going through the same thing he was. People who knew what he was going through. I think empathy is one of the most important connections you can have with another person. You can relate to how their feeling, sometimes feel the way they feel as a result. But you gain a sense of togetherness, a sense that your not alone. “He handed me a check for $120” (88). Coates, walking his grandfather to the subway, shares a special moment with his grandfather because his grandfather
knows what he’s experiencing. He knows exactly how he feels, the struggle not knowing where your going to get your next paycheck, and how your going to put food on the table. I feel like personal connections to other people, people in similar circumstances or have had similar experiences, make the bad seem a little less bad, and more specifically, less lonely. For example, I broke my leg once, and I was in the hospital for a few days, bored out of my mind. But I met a new friend, a kid I’ll never forget, Sam. He had broken his arm the day before, and we couldn’t be separated. We had our beds moved closer, constantly cracking jokes about how were crippled, but it made everything seem a whole lot better.
Personally, the idea of race and racism does not affect me, however I know that it affects a seemingly infinite amount of people around the world. Ta-Nehisi explains his struggles being African American throughout the book, but understands that it is not just him in a situation like his own. “All of this is common for black people. All of this is old for black people. No one is held responsible” (9). It has been no secret that racism has been part of life for African Americans since our country’s infancy. Obviously it is now outlawed, but it still finds ways to be present in everyday life for African Americans, and even myself. Although our community is not the most diverse, racism is still very much present, just in a different manor. Instead of the obvious name calling and racist remarks, it’s very subtle things, like leaving the odd kid out, of being overly nervous around someone of a different race. I never understood the idea to racism. Everyone deserves equality. But for some reason it seems like racism is never going to go away. African Americans are some of the strongest people in my eyes. They have put up with the nonsense that is racism for hundreds of years. Coates describes his experiences in school, specifically his experiences regarding civil rights presentations he saw in school. “The black people in these films seemed to love the worst things in life—love the dogs that rent their children apart, the tear gas that clawed at their lungs, the fire hoses that tore their clothes off and tumbled them into the streets” (32). Coates as a child was confused why the people he was “supposed” to look up to were peaceful, because he had lived in violence his entire life. His environment forced him to mature at an early age, yet his maturity is different from our view of maturity. In the north shore, maturity is graduating high school and moving on to college, or getting a job. For Coates, however, maturity is learning how to survive.
The parallel that I looked at is the drastically higher housing prices here in the north shore as apposed to the rest of the country. Since 2013, the average change in affordable housing has been roughly +1%. However, when you take a deeper look into some of the facts, you start to realize strange abnormalities. When you look at the populations, towns/cities with higher populations tend to change more negatively in affordable housing, while smaller populations tend to rise. This relates to our topic of race because it keeps people from coming to our communities. It is not a surprise that the majority of people who live in the north shore are wealthy/middle class, because we like to be around people or the same socioeconomic status. I find this truly sad, because I would love for people to have an equal opportunity to live where they want, no matter their economic status.
Between the world and me has opened my eyes to problems of which I have never experienced, and things that I most likely never will. The experiences of Ta-Nehisi blew my mind as I read the book, thinking to myself, “how against all these odds did he make it out?” But he did. He mentions his connections with people, and how no matter the circumstances, he always had people. People who were going through the same thing he was. People who knew what he was going through. I think empathy is one of the most important connections you can have with another person. You can relate to how their feeling, sometimes feel the way they feel as a result. But you gain a sense of togetherness, a sense that your not alone. “He handed me a check for $120” (88). Coates, walking his grandfather to the subway, shares a special moment with his grandfather because his grandfather
knows what he’s experiencing. He knows exactly how he feels, the struggle not knowing where your going to get your next paycheck, and how your going to put food on the table. I feel like personal connections to other people, people in similar circumstances or have had similar experiences, make the bad seem a little less bad, and more specifically, less lonely. For example, I broke my leg once, and I was in the hospital for a few days, bored out of my mind. But I met a new friend, a kid I’ll never forget, Sam. He had broken his arm the day before, and we couldn’t be separated. We had our beds moved closer, constantly cracking jokes about how were crippled, but it made everything seem a whole lot better.
Personally, the idea of race and racism does not affect me, however I know that it affects a seemingly infinite amount of people around the world. Ta-Nehisi explains his struggles being African American throughout the book, but understands that it is not just him in a situation like his own. “All of this is common for black people. All of this is old for black people. No one is held responsible” (9). It has been no secret that racism has been part of life for African Americans since our country’s infancy. Obviously it is now outlawed, but it still finds ways to be present in everyday life for African Americans, and even myself. Although our community is not the most diverse, racism is still very much present, just in a different manor. Instead of the obvious name calling and racist remarks, it’s very subtle things, like leaving the odd kid out, of being overly nervous around someone of a different race. I never understood the idea to racism. Everyone deserves equality. But for some reason it seems like racism is never going to go away. African Americans are some of the strongest people in my eyes. They have put up with the nonsense that is racism for hundreds of years. Coates describes his experiences in school, specifically his experiences regarding civil rights presentations he saw in school. “The black people in these films seemed to love the worst things in life—love the dogs that rent their children apart, the tear gas that clawed at their lungs, the fire hoses that tore their clothes off and tumbled them into the streets” (32). Coates as a child was confused why the people he was “supposed” to look up to were peaceful, because he had lived in violence his entire life. His environment forced him to mature at an early age, yet his maturity is different from our view of maturity. In the north shore, maturity is graduating high school and moving on to college, or getting a job. For Coates, however, maturity is learning how to survive.
The parallel that I looked at is the drastically higher housing prices here in the north shore as apposed to the rest of the country. Since 2013, the average change in affordable housing has been roughly +1%. However, when you take a deeper look into some of the facts, you start to realize strange abnormalities. When you look at the populations, towns/cities with higher populations tend to change more negatively in affordable housing, while smaller populations tend to rise. This relates to our topic of race because it keeps people from coming to our communities. It is not a surprise that the majority of people who live in the north shore are wealthy/middle class, because we like to be around people or the same socioeconomic status. I find this truly sad, because I would love for people to have an equal opportunity to live where they want, no matter their economic status.
I'm curious about the idea of empathy and how it impacts relationships between people of different backgrounds. You discuss empathy between people with similar experiences, such as Coates and his grandfather or you and Sam. Can empathy still exist between, for instance, black and white people or wealthy and low-income people? How might an emphasis on empathy impact the relationships between different groups of people?
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