We have all been standing in line at a checkout counter and listened to the person in front having a loud conversation on a cell phone. We all have experienced someone cutting us off in traffic or flashing his/her lights to pass us on the road. We have all experienced the sales person who refuses to help a customer because he/she doesn’t work in that department. So, as we listen to the cell phone conversation, swerve out of the way of the car, and leave the department store empty handed, we ask ourselves: Why are people so rude? Don’t they know any better? Didn’t their parents or grandparents teach them any better than this? Then we remember that in our society today, rudeness or the act of being rude is practically obsolete because …show more content…
Being reminded that having a little understanding toward one another is a definite start in improving society’s act of rudeness. According to Paul Thoms, he suggests that manners “determine how we treat each other” and “the impact of our actions have on others effects society” (1). That is the very definition of empathy. It is the golden rule philosophy: treat others the way we wish to be treated. All too often, we come face to face with people who refuse to show any consideration for others. One of the culprits for this is social media. Social media has taken away face to face communication; thus making it easier to be completely inconsiderate of how others are feeling. As human beings, we have a tendency to always want to strike back at someone who may have been rude, but we need to make certain that we are showing young people the importance of reflection and to step a moment in the person’s shoes (Thoms 6). We need to show them the importance of being empathetic, and by doing so, the world may become a little less …show more content…
The old adage sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt is an illusion. Words are a powerful tool that we have. Everyday media outlets report on teenagers committing acts of violence on themselves and others because of words that were posted on social media or said in certain social circles. According to Thoms, one of the reasons for these acts of violence is that many “operate without a sense of responsibility” (5). One of the ways that impoliteness and insolence can be stopped is to show children the power of kindness. A teaching young person that every word spoken and every completed action has a consequence is an important aspect of becoming a positive influence in communities. In addition, adults need to remember that children mimic what they see. In other words, if children see in adults unkindness, they will more than likely become unkind (Cramer 1). If we slow down and take the time to notice the world around us, then our willingness to show kindness and selflessness will begin to show; therefore, alleviating our desire to be
Shannon Vallor talks about the effects of the new social media like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter to the attitudes of individuals online and offline. Vallor describes the importance of patience, honesty, and empathy. She explains that all these virtues are important in order to achieve a sense of friendship or kindness towards other people. She talks about how new social media restricts that ability and only offers a quick and easy way of contacting other individuals without really caring about the other persons feelings. The virtues of patience, honesty, and empathy are all important to Vallor and she explains how this is lost on new social media. That these virtues are more effective when shown in person, that these virtues are supposed
According to Arianna Huffington in the article “Empathy: What We Need Now”, during hardships and instability of society, empathy is needed to find solutions to those issues. Huffington writes about how empathy is needed in our country in order to produce a positive social change. She begins by giving an example of a movement that Martin Luther King created and how empathy was a part of this movement. King as well spoke of how empathy is the sign of living. To become involved in the situations of humanity in order to improve it, displays that empathy is the core of a human’s existence. After reading this article, I do agree with Huffington about how individuals need to fully understand and put themselves within the situation to fully comprehend the issue to solve.
Tio Hardiman, the creator of the Violence Interrupters Program, said, “You can give them a history lesson. Your daddy was violent, your granddaddy was violent, and your great granddaddy was violent. And now your brothers are messed up because you misled them” (James et al., 2012). He is describing how violence is a learned behavior from your family and close peers. Hardiman goes on to tell a little about his own family’s history with violence. When he was fourteen, a man tried to hurt him in the streets, but his stepfather killed the man right in front of him, and he recalls feelings good about it. This family taught him violence was okay through their own
Empathy is imperative to teach kids from a young age in order to help them recognize mental states, such as thoughts and emotions, in themselves and others. Vital lessons, such as walking in another’s shoes or looking at a situation in their perspective, apprehends the significance of the feelings of another. Our point of view must continuously be altered, recognizing the emotions and background of the individual. We must not focus all of our attention on our self-interest. In the excerpt, Empathy, written by Stephen Dunn, we analyze the process of determining the sentiment of someone.
“The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” –Meryl Streep Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This particular skill requires one to walk around in someone else’s shoes. It is a very valuable emotional skill that develops in many characters during the course of the novel. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, empathy is consistently present whether it’s Atticus being empathetic, Atticus teaching the kids to empathize or them empathizing themselves in certain situations.
Todd Schwartz’s “America Jerk” and Martin Gottfried’s “Rambos of the Road” both discuss behavioral issues in today’s culture. From annoying cellphone ringtones to getting elbowed off the highway, these two essays are the epitome of rudeness. “Civility is dead, jerks” (Schwartz 55). “Rambos of the Road” is about people’s rude and reckless actions on the road while “American Jerk” talks about the actions of individuals carrying out their everyday tasks. In both essays, rude behavior plays a major role. “American Jerk” and “Rambos of the Road” have strong ties to selfishness, impatience, and a lack of common courtesy.
The development of the human race has been a spectacular one. According to modern theories, the development of man took billions of years and only happened because of a very specific set of variables and conditions. What marks one of the many extraordinary qualities in the human species is the ability to self-aware and cognizant. This self-awareness has many implications, one being the ability to empathize. This empathy can be for oneself or for others’ depending on the relationship to the recipient. In “A neurobehavioral evolutionary perspective on the mechanisms
One way the individual faces such rudeness is on the Internet. Many people are much more willing to abandon their obligation to be polite when sitting behind their computer, especially when the website includes the user’s anonymity (Clay). One study shows that individuals who frequent websites in order to argue, rant, or vent actually tend to “score higher on anger measures, express their anger more maladaptively and experience such negative consequences as verbal and physical fights more frequently than others” (Clay). Although this statistic may be true, correlation cannot be used to find causation. It very well may be that people who already have anger problems might be the ones frequenting these websites, and their anger problem is the reason they are frequenting the websites instead of the websites causing the anger problem.
Empathy is the ‘capacity’ to share and understand another person’s ‘state of mind’ or their emotion. It is an experience of the outlook on emotions of another person being within themselves (Ioannides & Konstantikaki, 2008). There are two different types of empathy: affective empathy and cognitive empathy. Affective empathy is the capacity in which a person can respond to another person’s emotional state using the right type of emotion. On the other hand, cognitive empathy is a person’s capacity to understand what someone else is feeling. (Rogers, Dziobek, Hassenstab, Wolf & Convit, 2006). This essay will look at explaining how biology and individual differences help us to understand empathy as a complex, multi-dimensional trait.
In the typical slave narrative, the intentions are fairly known. The author has written with a certain willingness that would appeal to the reader emotionally. There is a message behind every tear, or in this case, every page. The slave narrative was used to give others an insight of what they had endured. Grabbing the reader’s sympathy, they also now had the reader’s support (wsu.edu). This reasoning could be seen in several narratives from that off Jacobs, Douglass, and Equiano. The theme of their slave narratives was generally to gain the sympathy of readers and promote their rights as humans.
As a child growing up, I was taught to be well mannered at home and everywhere I go. I was taught to say please and thank you, yes ma’am, and to hold the door open for individuals. In todays society, more and more people are forgetting their manners and are becoming offensively impolite. Whenever I go to a store to shop or even just to go out in public to burn some time, I never forget to take my manners with me. As I'm out and about, I've noticed the rudeness of individuals and some take
As the exposure to violence prolongs, a child begins to believe that violence is an acceptable behavior or the answer to receiving what they want. Outcomes such as trauma, emotional disorders, stress, and behavioral problems are also prevalent as the exposure to violence occurs. Children often learn their behavior from adults or peers and although a child might not be physically involved, but even being an audience, he/she is learning the negative behavior. There must be an effort to put a stop to violence in schools, households, or even in communities as it affects children greatly.
On Tuesday 6:30am an old friend of my mine that I knew for 20 years in NY, past away due to a heartatach, it was a shock to my self and all his family. I flew out to New York, trying to put my self together as it just hit me I will never see him again or hear his remarks about my way of life. All of the sudden I realized if I feel like that how will his children feel, how will there stepmother feel, and I remember yes they just lost their mom few years ago and now their dad. I started feeling sorry for them. I realized I am feeling sympathy for the kids and wife, I was thinking that they are remember their father with pain. I did not think as an empathetic person that maybe they are remembering their father with pain but also with the pleasure, he brought to their life.
... and that everyone matters. Our children's future and success will be enhanced by the use of appropriate behavior. Let us create an environment in our homes, schools, and churches where manners are taught and valued so that every child feels safe and becomes all they were created to be. A quote by William Arthur Ward makes people wonder whether they have been polite and good-mannered during the day: "God gave you a gift of 86, 400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you?"
Empathy is the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s position and to intuit what that person is feeling (Pink, 2006). Rather than simply sympathizing, empathy enables us to put ourselves into the shoes of another and actually feel what they are feeling. This vicarious sense allows us to better understand people and their experiences. Understanding others and their experiences is vital in education. Whether dealing with different races, religions, sexes, etc., empathy provides us with an avenue to widespread understanding of others that even language cannot.