Empathy in a Time of Crisis – 5

Team Empathy Journal – Part Five.

Continuing our blog about this time of global crisis, from the perspective of a voluntary team, and on a more personal level. Thank you for reading.

Each day new numbers scroll on our screens. Each day new stories navigate their ways via every conceivable channel to reveal the people behind the numbers: individuals, families, business and nations – all affected in their own ways. There are tragedies and hardships, and fears with many faces. Narratives tug at our hearts and headlines fill our minds. 

Occasionally different stories interrupt the contagion, and we remember that there are forms of suffering and moments of joy wholly untouched by the virus. But soon they go quiet to make space for fresh facts and figures that roll out the next day. The heavy loads of information can be overwhelming and leave us at a loss to know what to do.

 As a team we keep in touch by telling smaller stories, sharing uplifting moments and pungent finds of wild garlic. Worries are aired, and efforts to raise money for those hardest hit by COVID-19 are applauded. This week we were happy to lend a hand to our Syrian friends when they moved home, and we try to flag up local businesses transforming themselves to survive at this time.

We are also talking about an exciting new Empathy Action project – our Rainbow Campaign, a coming together of ideas in the shape of a new product made by a small group of our friends in South Africa. A limited number of their beautiful symbol of hope will be available very soon! 

Zooming in on the micro helps to absorb the magnitude of the macro. It also enables us to deal with the fact that we cannot help everyone all at the same time. John Steinbeck wrote in his Journal, “Try to understand each other … if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love.” If we start off by being kind to ourselves, we will gain the strength to understand and be kind to others, and from there empathy will surely continue to flow, from the micro to the macro.

Stay in touch, keep connected and take care of yourselves – and others.