Cultivating Empathy

Teaching empathy and kindness lays the foundation for a healthy and happy environment. Discussions about socio-political events with friends or people around often leave me wondering if somebody ever introduced these people to the word — Empathy. In the simplest of terms, empathy is the ability to notice, understand, and share the emotions of others. It is a critical social skill for all people to have. It sounds like an elementary word, yet there are clear signs of its lack in people on several occasions. Most importantly, kids and young adults who lack empathy are often unaware that their behaviours can negatively impact others. These people usually do or say something that makes sense to them without considering much about its impact on those around them.

Recently, I participated in a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) event in my organisation, and the task was to create an infographic template to introduce empathy to school children. I quickly grabbed the opportunity and tried to make an easy-to-understand, informative draft. I hope it helps to teach everyone the essential introduction to empathy and the impact it could have on our lives.