Empathy

America is severely lacking in empathy. The ability to feel a situation from another’s viewpoint. The ability to care about the impact on others.

A pandemic that killed over a million Americans (and counting), exacerbated by people who won’t take simple steps to slow the spread.

Legislators who are so fearful of whom others love that they push to remove LGBTQ representation from available books and punish families who live that way.

People who want to control a woman’s right to choose.

Voters clinging so tightly to their dollars they can’t see that the crumbling infrastructure around them needs more funding.

People who accept the level of gun violence far out of line with any other rich, developed nation in the world because they can’t imagine any limitations on their toys designed only for killing people quickly.

People who demonize immigrants trying to find a better life, and cast them as hordes coming to replace white people.

Those who want to be “tough on criminals” and increase policies that don’t seem to be working and have led to America having 5% of the global population yet 20% of the globally incarcerated people.

People dismissing the effects of the climate catastrophe on communities all around us, trying to defend a status quo.

America needs a shot of empathy. To think beyond only ourselves. Remember, we’re in this together.