She’s Mad and For Good Reason
It seems that either I have a missive in my email box each morning that says “dude, you sound depressed” or one that says “you seem to be moving forward quite well” – people are reading the same entry and getting completely different ideas of what life is like in my world. It’s very curious.
So a friend sends this to me this morning in hopes that I will see the light or what has been an omission in my life – this she gets from reading Oprah at 2:45 AM:
To emphathize literally means “to suffer with,†to share the pain of other beings so entirely that their agony becomes our own. The reason to develop a capacity for empathy, and then exercise it regularly, is that only a heart strengthened by this kind of understanding can effectively deliver the oxygen of the spirit: love. Love requires connection between lover and beloved, and empathy is the quiet miracle by which this connection is forged. When you share others’ suffering, you also share their experience of receiving your gift – the gift of being accompanied into grief or anguish rather than bearing it alone…
March 6th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
interesting, then according to oprah i’ve been using the word emphathy incorrectly all this time. why would i want to actually feel anyone else’s pain? thanks for the vocab lesson! so seriously, was denzel in shorts? shirtless? i ran into him last year at a movie theater during ‘oscar voting season’ at million dollar baby – he was in front of me on the popcorn line – and i heard the voice — and i knew who it was without even looking up…like all, shorter in person than you’d think.
March 6th, 2006 at 8:00 pm
I did not see him – my friend N did and said that she knew who he was when he smiled – oh that beautiful smile – but I didn’t get a wardrobe check – short you say – damn I hate that. Empathy – you know like the Empath on Star Trek – she feels others pain so much that she shuts down when another is feeling strong feelings – yes you know this word.
March 6th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
he was beautiful and just very manly. not short – but not as tall as you’d think, maybe 5 10/5 11- he just appears so bigger than life on screen…i had forgotten of that chance encounter til i read his name, funny.