Welcome to Root Words. I'm Michelle Root and on this podcast we will embark on a
journey of self-discovery while appreciating the complexities of
language through etymology, the study of words. Each episode we will explore
the origins of a specific word, how it can influence our spiritual, mental,
physical, and emotional well-being. I want to help us dive into the
intersections of language and life so we can contribute to a common understanding.
Let's uncover the power of language together. One word at a time. This is Root Words.
Welcome back to Root Words. My name is Michelle Root and today for this episode
I'm going to touch on a word that I feel is lacking severely in our current state
of affairs. I am recording this in February 2024, the same month that
United States Airmen, Aaron Bushnell, self-immolated in front of the Israeli
Embassy. Aaron demonstrated this highly controversial form of protest in defense
of the Palestinian people who are being murdered in Gaza at the hands of the IDF.
Now when I had originally chosen this word, this event had not occurred yet, but I
cannot think of a better example of the utmost form of empathy one person can
have for another. My heart goes out to Aaron Bushnell and his family as I
cannot imagine a deeper greater loss than one of a man with such strong
convictions. May he be remembered as the hero and the true ally that he was and
will always be. I want to make sure that within this episode anybody affected by
any of these atrocities is given the utmost respect and compassion. These
conversations are not always easy to have, but they are absolutely critical in
the evolution of human consciousness. In order to learn how to become more
empathetic to another person's plight, we have to make sure that we are learning,
educating, and growing in terms of knowledge, in terms of awareness, and in
terms of exposure to things that are happening around us. When we educate
ourselves on what empathy truly is, it helps us understand where we may be
lacking it and where we can more appropriately apply it. Some people may
make the easy assumption that empathy is simply feeling sorry for someone or
finding pity for them in their situation. I feel this can definitely be true to
a point, but most of the time goes beyond an outward expression of sorrow for
another. Quoted from dictionary.com, the definition of empathy is the psychological
identification with or vicarious experiencing of the emotions, thoughts,
or attitudes of another. In other words, it is the capacity to understand and
share the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another person, often
leading to a sense of connection and compassion towards their emotions and
perspective. As quoted from a short story of empathy, a piece by Susan Lanzoni
written in the Atlantic, she states, the English word empathy came into being only
about a century ago as a translation for the German psychological term
einfulung, literally meaning feeling in. English speaking psychologists suggested
a handful of other translations for the word, including animation, play, aesthetic
sympathy, and semblance. The evolution of the word empathy is very interesting
because back in 1908 when the word was first mentioned, it was a projection of
the human condition upon sometimes an inanimate object, whereas over time the
progression of the definition has come to mean what it now does today. But instead
of inanimate objects, we now associate it with the human experience. Over time,
its evolution has helped us better understand ourselves and each other.
As I learned more about psychology, I understand it to be more of an
evolutionary experience, progressive in nature and adapting to the times. It all
feels somewhat ever-evolving and I think that knowing now what we do about empathy,
it is such a beautiful trait as a human being to be able to sympathize on a deeper
level than just observing. Not only are you bearing witness to the plight of
another, but you are feeling it and internalizing it within yourself. That is
not something that's easy to do by any means. That is something that literally
can destroy you if you're not able to properly utilize it. While doing research
for this episode, I recently learned that empathy can also be a trauma response
as a form of survival and adaptation to your surroundings. In other words, some
people that have extreme empathy or may be classified as an empath really are
people that have deep trauma responses to things so they will be able to feel
out a situation easier than the average person due to their experiences and
therefore create a sense of safety and survival by having that emotional
intelligence to observe the energy and the situation. So I feel it's really
important to understand and know the difference between emotionally organic
empathy that comes naturally from a situation versus a situation that you've
had to adapt to for survival. Despite these two types of empathy, they both
share a common attribute. Not only are you bearing witness to the plight of
another, but you are feeling it and internalizing it within yourself. That
is not something that's easy to do. That is something that can literally destroy
you if you're not able to properly utilize it and process it. And it's not
something that people that feel this take lightly at all. And of course there's
mental health situations sometimes where empathy is not possible and that
again is completely understandable situation. For the context of this episode
I will be always referring to people that are fully capable of feeling empathy
but rather choose not to. It's an extremely important differentiation to
make in this context. I know the difference between a person that is
struggling in that aspect versus a person who sees what's going on has no
emotional reaction to the level of suffering that's happening. That's what
concerns me. I think right here it's important to note that empathy is not
always reserved for negative situations. You can have empathy over weddings,
birthdays, times of celebration. Empathy involves experiencing emotions internally
so it can be for positive or negative emotions. The truth is though what can
we do? A lot of things that occur in the world feel so far away from us and we
feel so disconnected because it feels like they don't impact our personal
lives and so in order to maintain sanity a lot of us just continue to push on
and focus on our own internal lives because sometimes it just feels that
bad that we can't focus on the grander scale of things and I understand that. I
really do. But as a whole the lack of concern is actually mind-blowing to me.
That is why an episode like this focusing on the word empathy is so
extremely important because I feel it is something we lack in 2024. We have come
so far in so many ways in so many aspects technologically, scientifically, but
socially and collectively it feels like terms like empathy and compassion are
long-lost concepts that are lost upon many people. Referring back to Airman
Bushnell, since his passing I've seen people make statements such as he will
be forgotten. No one will remember him as anything other than the man who set
himself on fire and do you know how lonely your soul has to be to truly believe
something like that? Do you know how heartbreaking it is to watch people find
hilarity and joy and pure sadistic satisfaction in the pain of others?
Mocking, laughing, those types of people they walk around looking like us, sounding
like us, dressing and even acting like us, but they are not in my opinion of the
human species. To be able to be so void of basic respect for human life is
something I will never understand and it is a huge red flag to me when someone
finds joy in harming innocent people and making fun of and finding comedy in
pain of an innocent person. When it comes to innocent human life there is no
debate or confusion about what is right and wrong. Empathy feels extremely rare
nowadays and it is something we need to call back into our own personal spaces
by disarming those who wear their lack of empathy as a badge of honor. Stop giving
them attention, stop feeding them the energy they crave, start seeing them for
what they really are. Being proud of a lack of compassion is not normal so
let's not try and normalize it. No matter how vile or ugly the world is I
will never allow it to harden my heart and soul. I will always stand up for my
fellow human being and for what's right. We even seen forms of empathy within the
animal kingdom. A really good example I can think of right now is I've seen
videos of a mother elephant whose baby was trapped within like a pit and the
other elephants within her pride or her pack whatever it's called they could
feel her distress and her pain and they witnessed her child also within the pit
so they formed a system and worked together to get this baby out to help
this mother. If that's not a form of empathy I don't know what is that is the
most beautiful display of collective community coming together to solve a
common problem to help one of their own and sometimes animals and nature just do
it better than we can. I think one of the easiest ways to form some level of
empathy is by imagining yourself in another person's shoes. You know that
old adage you don't know what it's like until you walk a mile in someone else's
shoes that's very very true and I'm not talking about differences under the lens
of bigotry homophobia or racism. We're not talking about any of that shit. I
want to make it crystal clear that despite me having an extremely
empathetic heart I will never in any way side with races, spigots, anyone that's
homophobic or any other form of oppressor. Look at someone who's in a
different country than you, a different tax bracket than you, a different XYZ.
Envision your life as if you were standing in their own place instead of
yours and understand the magnitude of their life and how the world affects
them and how you would react in their position. That is true empathy to stand in
someone else's shoes and feel their emotions, to feel their pain, to feel
their love. That is true empathy and as a human being while I am ashamed of the
lack of empathy I'm seeing and the lack of love and compassion and concern I am
also proud of the people that I know and see that speak up, the people that lay
their lives down for what is right despite it being popular or not. When
something disturbs your soul and your spirit so greatly that it leaves you in
a puddle of tears on the floor you have to say what you need to say. Something
that is very unique to our generation of people nowadays is that we have access
to the internet, we have the ability to share joy of a stranger, we can see a
beautiful happy picture online of reuniting family or two people getting
married and find pure joy from that situation and lend our empathy to it.
But on the flip side we are constantly bombarded by extreme levels of
violence so much so that we have ultimately become desensitized as a
species in my opinion where seeing someone deceased or injured is either
comedic to some or some feel nothing at all and that is a level of disconnect
from our emotions that is very concerning. Why are we to this point in
society where seeing the pain of another causes absolutely no reaction inside of
us? That's why focusing on this episode how we can instill more empathy in our
lives and just being more empathetic in general is just so extremely important
right now because we are fighting against technology that is trying to
literally take away our compassion and empathy and the things that make us human
beings and I don't like that I don't like how it makes me feel I don't like
feeling like something is wrong with me because I have empathy and I never get
used to seeing pain and destruction on such a grand scale. I want to hold on
to my humanity as long as I possibly can and I feel that a powerful way to do
just that is by holding on to the belief that my mom has always taught me and has
tried to instill in me that ultimately we are all connected in this life. It
doesn't matter how near or far someone is or how different they appear to be than
us we all are on the same plane this earth this existence and we're all
living in this realm at the same time and instead of seeing divisions amongst
us we have to start seeing connections and that's one of the only ways that
we're going to be able to foster more empathy and compassion in our society. It
shouldn't take these acts of humanization to foster a level of empathy
within oneself but it often makes it easier to find the commonality between
you and another person. For instance if you both are mothers you can see
similarities between your life and this other person you're comparing it to. You
may face the same or similar problems and you may also have the same
solutions to these problems as well. The point is once you find the common ground
between you and another person or even another being as I mentioned earlier with
elephants you can find your compassion you can find your empathy. Outside of
people that struggle due to mental illness anyone that says that they have
no empathy for another person in my opinion it is because they're actively
shutting that part of themselves off. Sometimes this could be for good reason
you may or may not know the reasons and that's fine but all in all when someone
actively shuts down their heart it is either a form of protection or a form of
intentional disconnection. Empathy can sometimes be utilized as an action word
also known as a verb so in that sense it takes active effort to exude empathy. Not
all the time but sometimes it does and for those times that require effort
certain people do not want to invest that level of energy. Is there areas in your
life where you're intentionally lacking empathy due to the amount of energy and
effort it takes or is there some parts of your life where you can address maybe
I have been a little cold or distant or emotionally unavailable to this situation
how can I turn my emotions on and become in tune with the situation to help
find a solution for whatever's happening. I recently connected with a beautiful
Palestinian woman named Shehma she is currently in Deir el-Bala in occupied
Palestine and hearing her story and listening to the things she faces and
deals with there was no way that I could not empathize and connect with this
this amazing strong resilient woman she has given me renewed hope that reaffirms
my belief that no matter how many people tell you your words and your posts and
your energy does not matter people are listening the people that you're
speaking out for are listening they hear you they see your support it is so
imperative that those that are oppressed and are being abused and harmed feel
they are heard and seen the negativity and pushback you may receive for showing
compassion and empathy towards others is all irrelevant to me when it comes to
this the voices of those in pain matter more to me than the voices of those who
would try to mock minimize or silence you for speaking out you know I sit here
from my small corner of the world in California and I feel so immensely small
in terms of impact the level of suffering I think we've witnessed as a
collective has made me so aware of the importance of community and having that
foundation where we can lean upon our village for support and compassion you
just cannot watch this level of suffering and feel nothing it's
terrifying to know that people feel nothing that they can just go on about
their days and not have one single thought of compassion towards another
person and it's terrifying to know that so many soulless people are walking
around us they live amongst us every day I feel it really imperative to
reiterate the difference between the people that choose not to care when
they could and those like most people that have so much going on in their own
lives then it is very hard sometimes to separate yourself focus on another
situation that is equally as distressing or more so and also handle your own life
and tandem it's completely understandable we are stressed out mentally taxed out
emotionally financially every aspect of our lives we're stretched so incredibly
thin on the flip side I am the other way where I absolutely have to speak out I
have to say what I need to say otherwise it will quite literally eat me up
inside no matter who's listening if I believe something so fiercely truthful
within my soul I have to get it out and that's fine too there is never one way
to show empathy towards another person I know I've said that a couple times
within this episode but I think it is so important not to gloss over the fact
that a lot of times people do have a choice in whether they want to exude
that energy or not in a world where understanding often eludes us empathy
stands as a beacon of hope reminding us of our shared humanity it is not a sign
of weakness but a testament to the strength of the human spirit capable of
bearing the burdens of others with grace and compassion in the tapestry of human
relationships it is the golden thread that binds us together it's not about
fixing one's problems but about being present with them in their struggles
offering solace and support without judgment to some today's episode up in
a world that often feels divided empathy serves as a powerful force for healing
and unity reminding us of our shared humanity and the importance of
compassion in our interactions with one another embracing empathy not only
enriches our relationships but it also reinforces the fabric of our society
fostering greater understanding and acceptance among diverse individuals
and communities I'll leave you today with a quote about empathy by Max Carver
he states empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking
action it's the impetus for creating change what a powerful way to understand
how connecting through our own individual hearts can heal us all as a
collective I invite you to join me on the next episode where we talk about the
word freedom it is a concept that has inspired revolutions movements and
struggles for justice throughout history however the meaning of freedom can vary
depending on cultural social and political context overall it is a deeply
cherished value that embodies the essence of autonomy independence and
self-determination if you'd like to connect with me or submit your word
suggestions please reach me at root words podcast at gmail.com you can also
connect through the Facebook group of the same name root words podcast and
also follow us on Instagram and as always words with a Z thank you so much for
joining me today I'm Michelle Root and this is root words
you