Hunger

LaAerial
LaAerial
Aug 9, 2017 · 3 min read

You know those sayings, “if the shoe was on the other foot” or “put yourself in their shoes?” It seems odd to think that so few people actually know what it means to empathize. I suppose most can attempt to sympathize or feel sorry for someone else but empathy is an entirely different ball game. Empathy is looking into someone’s eyes and saying, ‘I see you. I feel you… I understand.’

Imagine a man who has enjoyed 3 square meals a day for his entire life, how might he do anything other than sympathize with a starving man. He would not know the pain that takes over when your body begins to literally digest itself. He might find it hard to imagine that while starving, normal bodily and brain functions would slow down or simply stop in order to conserve energy. This might make the person suffering from lack of nutrition become completely demotivated. The man who has always been satiated and motivated might look at the starving person in perplexity thinking, “why doesn’t he just go look for food?”

This would all be a difficult picture to paint to the person who has never known hunger, the man, woman or child who has always had access to fresh food and clean water. Still, it’s important to try and paint that picture, to help he or she see. That’s what #BlackLivesMatter is trying to do. It is an attempt to illuminate the painful issues of racism that have plagued black communities around the world. It is not a fun topic or something concocted to say “look at me! look at me!” Just as you would not dismiss a crying baby you should not dismiss the painful cries of your neighbor. It is exhausting having to consider your race in everything you do, from taking a drive, applying for a job, moving to a new neighborhood, traveling to another country or even meeting the family of a friend of a different race. And this is all BEFORE all of the unjust police shootings that have been surfacing. Because racism against black people around the world is so pervasive and aggressive it can be described as a cancer. We literally have to think before taking certain actions for our own safety.

Imagine for a moment if you didn’t know where you came from, had no history of your origins or no knowledge of your past. How would that make you feel? What if you were always treated like an outsider in the only place you’ve ever known as home? How about if you thought you were one thing but people insisted you were another? This would create an endless amount of stress and depression, this yo-yo-ing of only being accepted into society as a lesser caricature of your whole creative and contributing self. Then to take this painful feeling further what about if you tried to talk with your neighbor about what you were going through and she said “this makes me uncomfortable” and turned and walked away. You would feel injured. This is exactly what it feels like each time we are told “get over it,” “that was years ago,” “go back to Africa,” “you’re always complaining” …etc

The #BlackLivesMatter movement seeks acknowledgment for the pain Black Americans have continued to suffer. This does not require a personal admission of guilt on the average White American it is only a request for empathy, NOT sympathy. See me, Feel me, OVERstand what is happening to me and help me make it right. Understand that white privilege is a real thing as is the black disadvantage. Our present world has been set up this way. Through open and honest communication, we can take steps toward healing, but only then. Problems never just disappear by closing your eyes and they certainly don’t go away by remaining silent.

Photo Credit: Pintrest

LaAerial

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LaAerial

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