It is a wonderful blessing and a terrible curse. It is beautiful because it brings understanding, but horrific because of the heartache it can inflict. It's a rare find nowadays, in our self-centered, me-me-me world.
To be able to see both sides of an issue and feel, truly feel, compassion and understanding for both parties is not so common anymore. People are so quick to take sides and deal out judgment and want to be right that they don't want to look at the other side of an issue. They want to stay comfortable in feeling right, in feeling better, in feeling outraged and angry. Maybe even in their shock or disgust, they feel there is no other way, no other side to approach an issue from.
I believe a key component of empathy is acknowledging your own sin, your own brokenness, your own struggles and disillusionments. When you've looked your own evils in the face, then you can see things a lot more clearly. The moral high ground you were standing on suddenly gets leveled. Your ego deflates. Your rage cools. Your surprise turns to sad acknowledgment. You know that the darkness isn't just out there, but also inside and needing to be fixed.
I've been seeing a lot of instances lately of people not wanting to deal with the fact that there are two sides to every issue and that the side they are standing on may not be entirely right. Everyone is in need of mercy, and everyone is capable of horrific acts of evil. Both are facts I try to carry with me daily in the face of what seems to be increasing darkness in this very ugly, sinful world.
Who allows us to look at our evils? We don't look of our own volition. If left to our own devices, we would continue to pretend that the evils inside just aren't there.
There's a reason Jesus said to take the plank out of your own eye before taking the speck out of your neighbor's. It's not our place to judge another for the crimes they've committed. We have to let Jesus clean up our own mess first before we can even think about what's going on with others, and even then it's still not our place to judge them.
Empathy looks at others, not in judgment, but in compassion. It desires that same clean-up for others that it has experienced. It hopes that God will work ALL things for good, not just the good things. It wants that lost sheep to be found. Empathy starts with, "Lord, have mercy."
