Empathy.
Now you may not thing of empathy as a skill… as some believe a skill is something that can be taught. Well I believe empathy can be taught. It is a matter of bringing it to the forefront of the mind.
I knew someone who once told me that they couldn’t appreciate or understand something that they themselves hadn’t experienced. I don’t believe that is the way it has to be. I think that if one tries, they can imagine something that they haven’t experienced. For that is all empathy is. Thinking what it would be like to be that other person.
The ‘walking in someone else’s shoes’ is a metaphor for empathy… most people believe that it means to put yourself in their position. I think it has another meaning as well… carry their load for them, just for a mile. That is what they need. To not have to carry the load by themselves and that is all empathy is… taking on something for someone else, even if it’s just a little while.
