Personal Narrative: How Empathy Has Changed My Life

Though it may seem impossible, the most seminal moment of my experience came a few months before my birth. My grandmother’s suicide changed my life before it even began. Even though the experience clearly had no direct influence on me emotionally because I never met her and did not understand what happened until many years later, it has led to my strength in and value of empathy. Throughout my entire life I have heard about my grandmother from my mom and many others. Even though she passed away nineteen years ago, her life’s impact and her death’s impact still weigh heavily on the lives of my family, including me even though I never met her.

I was born a naturally happy baby, which is not uncommon. What is uncommon is the severe despair my

In my opinion, you absolutely do not have to think you would respond similarly to feel empathy. I typically do not respond emotionally to anything that happens to me, but I am able to connect with others who may be inclined to dramatic responses to situations I find completely pointless. The ability to empathize does not come from similar personality but it comes instead from the ability to take ownership of someone else’s situation and response and reflect on it as if both the response and emotions were your own. Empathy allows you to be perceptive of other’s feelings even if you cannot fully grasp what and why they feel that way. Also, with empathy comes civility. Although someone may not respond to my greeting in the hallway, I will still greet them with joy knowing that a simple smile will, at the worst, be unnoticed and will, at the best, make the person’s day better. You can never fully understand what someone is going through, so due to epistemology, you must be civil, treating everyone kindly no matter how they treat you in return. Also, every deserves to be treated with dignity and respect because we all have experienced hardships and we all have brought others joy. Empathy allows you to be civil because you always know that each person deserves your respect and you also do not know through what they are