Empathy: A Universal Thing

The whole concept of empathy and how we do not necessarily feel it toward animals has really been circulating in the back of my mind for a while. Let’s define empathy, empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. To understand…. how can people expect us to understand other species when we can’t even seem to understand others, let alone ourselves? I think that before humans start to expand empathy towards other animals, they should learn to expand it toward other humans. So many times people get caught up on having self-empathy that they forget that other people have and share similar feelings. What I think is the problem, is not the lack of empathy but the fact that people lack caring.

Sure we have “mirror neurons” that makes humans responsive to the emotions of others like the video explained, but empathy should come from the heart. As humans we should want to feel empathy towards others, and feel the need to understand each other. People get so caught up in greed and hate that it makes it hard for them to empathize. It brings negativity to everything they do and just makes everything wrong. The video we watched in class today made a very good point. “Empathy is the invisible hand”, it is crazy to think or even imagine that the world and its diverse species might not make it through. Sure eventually the sun will reach its inevitable limit and just obliterate everything in its way (little John Green reference), but the fact that our lack of empathy toward other species and the environment can be our doom is pretty sad to fathom about.

I am terrified to see what the future holds for the environment. The lack of empathy we have had toward earth is actually tragic, and we should all be ashamed. We might not feel the pain of the deforestation of a grass land, or the pain of the damaged ozone layer due to harmful chemicals produced by humans but we should really start too.  I want to be able to live to grow old without fear of developing cancer or the earth just total falling apart. I want to be able to have kids and let them grow up in a good safe environment.

Going back to animals, I don’t know how people can’t help but feel at least some little empathy toward them. I’m not going to lie I am partially vegetarian because I feel empathy towards animals, but I am also not a crazy animal activist. I don’t think it is wrong in any way that people eat animals, but they should be slaughtered with dignity. Well to not keep rambling on, I just think that empathy should be a universal thing.