Empathy

By Blake Lauritsen-Norby

Lanesboro, MN

Growing up, I encountered bullying as many others did in their youth. I remember the anger that swelled up inside, but too scared to stand up for myself. At one point, when mom was driving me home from school, I brought up some of the things that were happening. Without missing a beat, she said that anyone that was bullying me was hurting inside, perhaps due to a broken home, lack of true friends/family or other reasons that caused them to feel isolated and lonely. This one conversation which lasted about three minutes changed everything and would define who I would become. It helped me see that reacting to bullying with anger would only escalate the hatred without a good resolution. More importantly, it opened up a new world to me through a lens of empathy. Seeing others around me and knowing there was a story that I didn’t know about them helped curb my anger, and instead moved me towards “what can I do to help.”

I remember walking down the school hall one day in between classes, and the bully walking the same direction. Before he could say anything, I asked, “Is everything ok?” He looked at me for a second, turned away and walked faster to his destination. I never had a conversation, or incident, from him again.

As an adult in a very partisan world, I find it hard to allow this empathetic side of me to be front-and-center. It’s difficult to watch the younger generation openly being ridiculed because leaders write policies based on hatred towards those who are different.

My anger has returned, and is an anger to protect others who do not have a voice, and it reflects our country’s inability to elect quality leaders with character… and empathy. I hope we can begin to see elections as a vote for character instead of a sports game that one side has to win. I hope we can push our leaders to change the existing parties to become more curious and empathetic rather than inciting anger and violence. When we say, “Take our country back,” it should not be a party that does this, but it should be all of us demanding character and virtue in the leaders who represent us.