Empathy- A value more than a Skill

It’s a rapidly changing world today. Machines are making life easy for us, taking away the chores and replacing them with gadgets for leisure. It’s a boon, as we now have more time to spend with our family, more time to invest in ourself. But look again, are we out in the park playing with our children or making castles in the sand? We all are hooked to our gadgets, creating our world within the confines of a small piece of machine that we hold in our hands but which is silently controlling our mind.

We are witnessing levels of stress never seen before. 

But weren’t we spending time on social media making new friends, finding ways to entertain ourself, to educate ourself? The fact is, today machines are guiding our thoughts, creating our habits and controlling our actions.

In this virtual world of millions around us, we stand alone. Sitting on the same couch, we are miles away from our loved ones. We feel the pain of the world around us, when there may be so much that needs to be said by the one sitting next to us.

Empathy, a value more than a skill, starts from home, but how much of it do we truly practice?

Our children need it the most today. But we give them gadgets, because we “understand” they are bored and need some entertainment as well. They will learn through the internet, we say. We forget that we learnt too. And we created the gadgets that these children are holding in their hands today. And all this without ever having held one in our hands.

Creativity is within us, it’s in that world that lies buried beneath the farces of the modern world which believes in the mechanisation of the generation.

The future needs our creativity. The changes are rapid. They need a disruption. That disruption which creates the supremacy of the human skills.

The machines are “enablers”, but we are the creators, the innovators. 

Let’s put that gadget down and reconnect with our basic values. Let’s explore the creation that is within us. Let’s become aware of who we are and what we have before we explore what we can do with that which we have created.

The ground must be ploughed before the seeds are sown. Look within you and explore the sea of wisdom that is in you and those around you. Empathy isn’t only about feeling the pain, it’s also about living connected with those who are around us. 

The future generation needs it to survive, to thrive. They need it to stay strong and be connected. And we are their role models. Model the behaviour that we want them to adopt. Don’t just teach them. Show them.