Mommy Writes Fantasy: A Writing Blog

July 22, 2025

Prompt: Empathy
"The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy."
Meryl Streep
What are your thoughts on empathy?

Empathy is the ability to feel what others are feeling. To walk a mile with them, in other words. It's an incredibly vulnerable thing to do, but often rewarding. Sometimes suffering alongside others is necessary-what I mean is, when we love people, we naturally suffer with them whether or not we consciously "want" to. That is a gift we can offer our fellow man, a superpower we possess as humans. When we have empathy for the ones we love, and even extend that empathy out to those outside our immediate circle of loved ones and friends, it can go a long way toward fostering a better world.

As a person with chronic illness, but also a person who's deeply sensitive, it can be difficult to juggle my own energy needs with the needs of those around me, especially my children and my husband, so I must be very careful in how I expend my emotional energy. For that reason, I don't watch a lot of news or current events. Instead, I offer prayers for the needs of the world while taking care to save my energy for those that need it most--my "neighbor", my family members, and often, myself. Some might say that makes me selfish. As I've grown older, I find myself caring less about what people say and more about how I treat people. When I have no energy left, I retreat into myself. I have nothing to give. I must first take care of myself if I am to be of service to my neighbor and to the world.

AlyCatAuthor