Be kind: every person you see is fighting his or her own battle
A widespread concept these days is empathy, and it is wonderful to read so much about it now because our society needs it more than ever. We need to put ourselves in each other’s shoes and act accordingly. No matter how bad your day is going, be kind, other people are fighting their own battles and the last thing they need is to receive your contempt.
There is nothing worse than having a bad day and finding yourself with an ill-mannered, rude, annoying and inconsiderate person. The problem is that many times we are the incarnation of this last person, even without realizing it. We act inconsiderately and rudely simply because we don’t know what empathy is in practice. To prevent this from happening to us again, let’s see how we can practice this important value.
What is empathy in practice
We have already said that empathy is putting yourself in the other’s shoes, treating others as you would like to be treated. But let’s take a real-life example. Suppose that a person at work or at home makes a mistake that affects you directly or indirectly, the person is sorry for his mistake but for you it is completely irritating how do you practice empathy in this case?
You know how you feel about it (irritated), but stop for a moment and think about how the person who made the mistake feels. And if you realize that he feels bad, the next step is to know how you should react accordingly. In this case, you assume the role of the person who made the mistake, because even though you are good at what you do, you are human, you are not perfect, and it can happen to you. So, you feel bad for having made that mistake, the other person is irritated, what would you like to receive from the other person? Surely you’d love to apologize, to be patient and say something like “quiet, nothing happens, you’ll do better. And the last thing you would want to hear is criticism, reiterations of how badly you did it and complaints. That’s the key to how you should react.
When you practice empathy you give exactly what you want to receive in a similar situation. Now, many times you don’t have time to know the person’s history but for some reason you must relate to them. Even if your day is going very badly, be nice for empathy, because that is what you also want to receive from others.
Kindness is the best currency
He who sows discord reaps anger, but he who sows kindness reaps peace. Even the most heated arguments can be quenched with just a little bit of kindness. All people have difficult lives (some more intense than others), if we learn to respond with kindness, to maintain a proper tone of voice, and to be courteous at all times, we will avoid being a nuisance and the cause of a bad day for others.
Practice kindness as a maximum virtue and you will be a more desirable person and an agent of change in the system.