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Welcome to Root Words. I'm Michelle Root and on this podcast we will embark on a

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journey of self-discovery while appreciating the complexities of

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language through etymology, the study of words. Each episode we will explore

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the origins of a specific word, how it can influence our spiritual, mental,

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physical, and emotional well-being. I want to help us dive into the

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intersections of language and life so we can contribute to a common understanding.

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Let's uncover the power of language together. One word at a time. This is Root Words.

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Welcome back to Root Words. My name is Michelle Root and today for this episode

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I'm going to touch on a word that I feel is lacking severely in our current state

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of affairs. I am recording this in February 2024, the same month that

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United States Airmen, Aaron Bushnell, self-immolated in front of the Israeli

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Embassy. Aaron demonstrated this highly controversial form of protest in defense

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of the Palestinian people who are being murdered in Gaza at the hands of the IDF.

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Now when I had originally chosen this word, this event had not occurred yet, but I

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cannot think of a better example of the utmost form of empathy one person can

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have for another. My heart goes out to Aaron Bushnell and his family as I

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cannot imagine a deeper greater loss than one of a man with such strong

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convictions. May he be remembered as the hero and the true ally that he was and

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will always be. I want to make sure that within this episode anybody affected by

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any of these atrocities is given the utmost respect and compassion. These

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conversations are not always easy to have, but they are absolutely critical in

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the evolution of human consciousness. In order to learn how to become more

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empathetic to another person's plight, we have to make sure that we are learning,

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educating, and growing in terms of knowledge, in terms of awareness, and in

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terms of exposure to things that are happening around us. When we educate

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ourselves on what empathy truly is, it helps us understand where we may be

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lacking it and where we can more appropriately apply it. Some people may

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make the easy assumption that empathy is simply feeling sorry for someone or

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finding pity for them in their situation. I feel this can definitely be true to

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a point, but most of the time goes beyond an outward expression of sorrow for

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another. Quoted from dictionary.com, the definition of empathy is the psychological

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identification with or vicarious experiencing of the emotions, thoughts,

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or attitudes of another. In other words, it is the capacity to understand and

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share the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another person, often

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leading to a sense of connection and compassion towards their emotions and

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perspective. As quoted from a short story of empathy, a piece by Susan Lanzoni

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written in the Atlantic, she states, the English word empathy came into being only

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about a century ago as a translation for the German psychological term

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einfulung, literally meaning feeling in. English speaking psychologists suggested

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a handful of other translations for the word, including animation, play, aesthetic

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sympathy, and semblance. The evolution of the word empathy is very interesting

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because back in 1908 when the word was first mentioned, it was a projection of

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the human condition upon sometimes an inanimate object, whereas over time the

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progression of the definition has come to mean what it now does today. But instead

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of inanimate objects, we now associate it with the human experience. Over time,

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its evolution has helped us better understand ourselves and each other.

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As I learned more about psychology, I understand it to be more of an

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evolutionary experience, progressive in nature and adapting to the times. It all

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feels somewhat ever-evolving and I think that knowing now what we do about empathy,

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it is such a beautiful trait as a human being to be able to sympathize on a deeper

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level than just observing. Not only are you bearing witness to the plight of

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another, but you are feeling it and internalizing it within yourself. That is

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not something that's easy to do by any means. That is something that literally

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can destroy you if you're not able to properly utilize it. While doing research

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for this episode, I recently learned that empathy can also be a trauma response

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as a form of survival and adaptation to your surroundings. In other words, some

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people that have extreme empathy or may be classified as an empath really are

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people that have deep trauma responses to things so they will be able to feel

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out a situation easier than the average person due to their experiences and

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therefore create a sense of safety and survival by having that emotional

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intelligence to observe the energy and the situation. So I feel it's really

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important to understand and know the difference between emotionally organic

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empathy that comes naturally from a situation versus a situation that you've

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had to adapt to for survival. Despite these two types of empathy, they both

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share a common attribute. Not only are you bearing witness to the plight of

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another, but you are feeling it and internalizing it within yourself. That

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is not something that's easy to do. That is something that can literally destroy

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you if you're not able to properly utilize it and process it. And it's not

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something that people that feel this take lightly at all. And of course there's

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mental health situations sometimes where empathy is not possible and that

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again is completely understandable situation. For the context of this episode

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I will be always referring to people that are fully capable of feeling empathy

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but rather choose not to. It's an extremely important differentiation to

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make in this context. I know the difference between a person that is

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struggling in that aspect versus a person who sees what's going on has no

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emotional reaction to the level of suffering that's happening. That's what

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concerns me. I think right here it's important to note that empathy is not

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always reserved for negative situations. You can have empathy over weddings,

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birthdays, times of celebration. Empathy involves experiencing emotions internally

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so it can be for positive or negative emotions. The truth is though what can

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we do? A lot of things that occur in the world feel so far away from us and we

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feel so disconnected because it feels like they don't impact our personal

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lives and so in order to maintain sanity a lot of us just continue to push on

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and focus on our own internal lives because sometimes it just feels that

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bad that we can't focus on the grander scale of things and I understand that. I

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really do. But as a whole the lack of concern is actually mind-blowing to me.

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That is why an episode like this focusing on the word empathy is so

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extremely important because I feel it is something we lack in 2024. We have come

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so far in so many ways in so many aspects technologically, scientifically, but

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socially and collectively it feels like terms like empathy and compassion are

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long-lost concepts that are lost upon many people. Referring back to Airman

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Bushnell, since his passing I've seen people make statements such as he will

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be forgotten. No one will remember him as anything other than the man who set

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himself on fire and do you know how lonely your soul has to be to truly believe

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something like that? Do you know how heartbreaking it is to watch people find

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hilarity and joy and pure sadistic satisfaction in the pain of others?

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Mocking, laughing, those types of people they walk around looking like us, sounding

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like us, dressing and even acting like us, but they are not in my opinion of the

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human species. To be able to be so void of basic respect for human life is

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something I will never understand and it is a huge red flag to me when someone

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finds joy in harming innocent people and making fun of and finding comedy in

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pain of an innocent person. When it comes to innocent human life there is no

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debate or confusion about what is right and wrong. Empathy feels extremely rare

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nowadays and it is something we need to call back into our own personal spaces

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by disarming those who wear their lack of empathy as a badge of honor. Stop giving

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them attention, stop feeding them the energy they crave, start seeing them for

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what they really are. Being proud of a lack of compassion is not normal so

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let's not try and normalize it. No matter how vile or ugly the world is I

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will never allow it to harden my heart and soul. I will always stand up for my

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fellow human being and for what's right. We even seen forms of empathy within the

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animal kingdom. A really good example I can think of right now is I've seen

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videos of a mother elephant whose baby was trapped within like a pit and the

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other elephants within her pride or her pack whatever it's called they could

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feel her distress and her pain and they witnessed her child also within the pit

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so they formed a system and worked together to get this baby out to help

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this mother. If that's not a form of empathy I don't know what is that is the

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most beautiful display of collective community coming together to solve a

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common problem to help one of their own and sometimes animals and nature just do

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it better than we can. I think one of the easiest ways to form some level of

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empathy is by imagining yourself in another person's shoes. You know that

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old adage you don't know what it's like until you walk a mile in someone else's

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shoes that's very very true and I'm not talking about differences under the lens

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of bigotry homophobia or racism. We're not talking about any of that shit. I

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want to make it crystal clear that despite me having an extremely

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empathetic heart I will never in any way side with races, spigots, anyone that's

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homophobic or any other form of oppressor. Look at someone who's in a

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different country than you, a different tax bracket than you, a different XYZ.

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Envision your life as if you were standing in their own place instead of

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yours and understand the magnitude of their life and how the world affects

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them and how you would react in their position. That is true empathy to stand in

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someone else's shoes and feel their emotions, to feel their pain, to feel

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their love. That is true empathy and as a human being while I am ashamed of the

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lack of empathy I'm seeing and the lack of love and compassion and concern I am

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also proud of the people that I know and see that speak up, the people that lay

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their lives down for what is right despite it being popular or not. When

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something disturbs your soul and your spirit so greatly that it leaves you in

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a puddle of tears on the floor you have to say what you need to say. Something

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that is very unique to our generation of people nowadays is that we have access

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to the internet, we have the ability to share joy of a stranger, we can see a

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beautiful happy picture online of reuniting family or two people getting

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married and find pure joy from that situation and lend our empathy to it.

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But on the flip side we are constantly bombarded by extreme levels of

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violence so much so that we have ultimately become desensitized as a

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species in my opinion where seeing someone deceased or injured is either

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comedic to some or some feel nothing at all and that is a level of disconnect

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from our emotions that is very concerning. Why are we to this point in

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society where seeing the pain of another causes absolutely no reaction inside of

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us? That's why focusing on this episode how we can instill more empathy in our

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lives and just being more empathetic in general is just so extremely important

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right now because we are fighting against technology that is trying to

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literally take away our compassion and empathy and the things that make us human

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beings and I don't like that I don't like how it makes me feel I don't like

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feeling like something is wrong with me because I have empathy and I never get

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used to seeing pain and destruction on such a grand scale. I want to hold on

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to my humanity as long as I possibly can and I feel that a powerful way to do

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just that is by holding on to the belief that my mom has always taught me and has

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tried to instill in me that ultimately we are all connected in this life. It

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doesn't matter how near or far someone is or how different they appear to be than

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us we all are on the same plane this earth this existence and we're all

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living in this realm at the same time and instead of seeing divisions amongst

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us we have to start seeing connections and that's one of the only ways that

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we're going to be able to foster more empathy and compassion in our society. It

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shouldn't take these acts of humanization to foster a level of empathy

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within oneself but it often makes it easier to find the commonality between

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you and another person. For instance if you both are mothers you can see

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similarities between your life and this other person you're comparing it to. You

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may face the same or similar problems and you may also have the same

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solutions to these problems as well. The point is once you find the common ground

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between you and another person or even another being as I mentioned earlier with

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elephants you can find your compassion you can find your empathy. Outside of

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people that struggle due to mental illness anyone that says that they have

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no empathy for another person in my opinion it is because they're actively

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shutting that part of themselves off. Sometimes this could be for good reason

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you may or may not know the reasons and that's fine but all in all when someone

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actively shuts down their heart it is either a form of protection or a form of

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intentional disconnection. Empathy can sometimes be utilized as an action word

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also known as a verb so in that sense it takes active effort to exude empathy. Not

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all the time but sometimes it does and for those times that require effort

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certain people do not want to invest that level of energy. Is there areas in your

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life where you're intentionally lacking empathy due to the amount of energy and

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effort it takes or is there some parts of your life where you can address maybe

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I have been a little cold or distant or emotionally unavailable to this situation

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how can I turn my emotions on and become in tune with the situation to help

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find a solution for whatever's happening. I recently connected with a beautiful

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Palestinian woman named Shehma she is currently in Deir el-Bala in occupied

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Palestine and hearing her story and listening to the things she faces and

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deals with there was no way that I could not empathize and connect with this

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this amazing strong resilient woman she has given me renewed hope that reaffirms

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my belief that no matter how many people tell you your words and your posts and

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your energy does not matter people are listening the people that you're

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speaking out for are listening they hear you they see your support it is so

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imperative that those that are oppressed and are being abused and harmed feel

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they are heard and seen the negativity and pushback you may receive for showing

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compassion and empathy towards others is all irrelevant to me when it comes to

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this the voices of those in pain matter more to me than the voices of those who

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would try to mock minimize or silence you for speaking out you know I sit here

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from my small corner of the world in California and I feel so immensely small

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in terms of impact the level of suffering I think we've witnessed as a

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collective has made me so aware of the importance of community and having that

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foundation where we can lean upon our village for support and compassion you

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just cannot watch this level of suffering and feel nothing it's

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terrifying to know that people feel nothing that they can just go on about

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their days and not have one single thought of compassion towards another

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person and it's terrifying to know that so many soulless people are walking

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around us they live amongst us every day I feel it really imperative to

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reiterate the difference between the people that choose not to care when

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they could and those like most people that have so much going on in their own

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lives then it is very hard sometimes to separate yourself focus on another

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situation that is equally as distressing or more so and also handle your own life

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and tandem it's completely understandable we are stressed out mentally taxed out

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emotionally financially every aspect of our lives we're stretched so incredibly

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thin on the flip side I am the other way where I absolutely have to speak out I

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have to say what I need to say otherwise it will quite literally eat me up

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inside no matter who's listening if I believe something so fiercely truthful

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within my soul I have to get it out and that's fine too there is never one way

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to show empathy towards another person I know I've said that a couple times

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within this episode but I think it is so important not to gloss over the fact

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that a lot of times people do have a choice in whether they want to exude

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that energy or not in a world where understanding often eludes us empathy

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stands as a beacon of hope reminding us of our shared humanity it is not a sign

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of weakness but a testament to the strength of the human spirit capable of

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bearing the burdens of others with grace and compassion in the tapestry of human

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relationships it is the golden thread that binds us together it's not about

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fixing one's problems but about being present with them in their struggles

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offering solace and support without judgment to some today's episode up in

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a world that often feels divided empathy serves as a powerful force for healing

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and unity reminding us of our shared humanity and the importance of

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compassion in our interactions with one another embracing empathy not only

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enriches our relationships but it also reinforces the fabric of our society

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fostering greater understanding and acceptance among diverse individuals

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and communities I'll leave you today with a quote about empathy by Max Carver

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he states empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking

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action it's the impetus for creating change what a powerful way to understand

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how connecting through our own individual hearts can heal us all as a

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collective I invite you to join me on the next episode where we talk about the

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word freedom it is a concept that has inspired revolutions movements and

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struggles for justice throughout history however the meaning of freedom can vary

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depending on cultural social and political context overall it is a deeply

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cherished value that embodies the essence of autonomy independence and

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self-determination if you'd like to connect with me or submit your word

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suggestions please reach me at root words podcast at gmail.com you can also

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connect through the Facebook group of the same name root words podcast and

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also follow us on Instagram and as always words with a Z thank you so much for

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joining me today I'm Michelle Root and this is root words

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you