THE EMPATHY DEFICIT

The truth is, there is a rise in Apathy and a decline in Empathy in this generation. Everyone only now cares for their own thing and that's all, so long as it's good for them, they don't mind what happens to the person next door..

Sola is a young and beautiful woman in her mid 30s, she's has been happily married to Akanji, her childhood best friend for over 8 years now, and they have been blessed with 3 beautiful kids.

She works now in a PR firm in the bustling city of Lagos, after she and her husband relocated from benin city immediately they got married, where she operates as the personal assistant to the Managing Director.

In the past 5 years she has been really diligent in disseminating her duties and doing that with a really happy demeanour.

As a matter of fact, she has been nicknamed "Mrs Happiness" at her work place because she's always smiling, but recently her attitude to work seemed different.

Don't get me wrong, she still manages to report to the office on time even through the horrendous traffic on Lagos roads and also dispenses her duty as well, but something is missing, something feels off.

The sad thing is no one else notices this. No one notices that behind the ever bubbling "Mrs Happiness" there is a woman who is fighting to put her family in order because her husband has been diagnosed with cancer and has stopped working for over 6 months now.

No one notices that beyond her occasional smiles and the cliche " I am fine" responses, there is a woman who still manages to fend for her kids and still send a little something to Mama and Papa back in Benin city.

Slowly her performance drops at work and then her boss starts to notice and instead of having a talk with her to know what the reason for the decline in her work performance is, He begins to get upset and complain about her growing incompetency and threatens to fire her from work and replace her, as there are over 100 people who can do her job better.

Now, Sola has to work overtime under so much pressure because her boss won't condone laxity and she has to deal with so much physical and mental drain from home and work until one day, she tried to use the elevator on her way out from the office after a hectic work day when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest, she yelled out in pain but in a few seconds, the room where she stood suddenly became blurry and she passed out.

The look on the doctor's face said it all, even though he tried to patch it up with a warm reassuring smile,

 'Sola knew everything was not okay'.

"You had a cardiac arrest madam, and it as a result of your blood pressure shooting so high without you checking it regularly.

Sola laid on the hospital bed, lost for words and let out tears as those were the only thing she easily could do at that moment.

How did she get here? Where will she start from? These questions kept ringing in her head, she didn't even hear when the doctor told her she has another possible 6 months to live.

The truth is, there is a rise in Apathy and a decline in Empathy in this generation. Everyone only now cares for their own thing and that's all, so long as it's good for them, they don't mind what happens to the person next door.

We all have our breaking point, because we are all truly human. Learn to ask questions and listen. Create an understanding of the baseline issue before you can help solve an issue, and to do that, it takes Empathy.

Empathy is a muscle we must exercise.

Be Kinder. You don't have an iota of idea the least people are going through daily, so the bare minimum you can offer them is a little kindness.

Take the " random" out of random act of kindness. Let people see that you see them. Read less minds, ask more questions, kindly.

It is much better to meet a need than to invent one, and more often than not, people would remember you more for the role you played in their most vulnerable state than when they were in their best moments.

Life is made up of moments, and the moment you miss the chance to show a little kindness to someone, you might not get that moment again, and the memory of how you made them feel never leaves.

In your everyday life there is a 'Sola' you will encounter, remember to be kind to them.

THE EMPATHY DEFICIT.

© November, 2022.