Empathy is an exercise
This is not a personal blog and probably never will be. But sometimes, some experiences touch us and make us think. For me, biographies have this impact. It is not a recipe of what to do or not, but a deep connection with what it means to be a human being. It is a discovery that will never end, and it also does not have a clear beginning.
I remember watching a biographical documentary about Freddie Mercury’s life and how that made me cry. Even though I had already known the end, the story made me resent deeply a loss that I didn’t witness. Today I have watched a docuserie about Andy Warhol and his diaries. However, the most significant difference was the narrative, since Andy Warhol himself wrote his memories. Again, I cried and felt his death as well as the intensity of his life.
People who somehow understood people more than themselves supposed; with pains, doubts, love, hate and all sorts of feelings, desires, and fears. And this is precisely what touches me. Can we love and care for someone that we do not know? My answer is ‘yes’. I think this is our empathetic/compassionate side. Love and care have a dozen meanings, and no one can be the object of all our ways of loving and caring; despite that, we can offer most profound and sincere empathy far beyond right and wrong and judgments.
There are plenty of fields where we can do our best to understand other people. This understanding is what moves me towards UX and also makes me be a better me. It is the motivation for creating solutions and the reason to widen my perspectives. So I can say that is one way of exercising my empathy.
