Empathy

Today is Easter, a religious holiday for many. It makes me think about the tenets of most religions. Love. Peace. Kindness. Worship. Faith. Many words are bandied about, but the sentiment is mostly universal. There are many of them, each with its own specificities, and they call to you in some manner because of your makeup. Who you are, and the life you’ve lived, and the experiences that have molded you. Delving deeper into it all, it made me reflect on writing.

Writing a character is about creating a persona with their own personal beliefs, motivations, and personality. They are affected by their past, their way of life, and the world around them. It’s an interesting exploration.

It’s not enough to write how they feel or how they react. You have to go deeper. You have to show your audience what makes them who they are. Their fears. Their trauma. Their triumphs. Their happiness. But you have to do the same for all your characters. The good ones. The bad ones. Even the most basic of characters. They all have a story that makes them who they are.

So, now I land on empathy, which is defined as the ability to understand, feel, and share the emotions and perspectives of others.

When I reflect on the world and the distance we put between us because of our lack of empathy, it’s disheartening. Religion. Sexual orientation. Physical appearance. Political alignment. The list of reasons we fail to trust each other feels endless.

If we could all broker a peace between our hearts and open our minds to accept each other on the basis of our own reflection of humanity, we might find that we all have more in common than we think.

What would __________ (insert benevolent diety here) do?