Understanding another's pain and sorrow can bring people together in powerful ways, and empathy is a crucial element to build strong connections even when seemingly colossal differences exist. The war in Ukraine, by joining thoughts and feelings of people from the most possible distinct cultures, backgrounds and languages, maybe has been the most intense exercise of empathy among human beings of all time
Generally defined as the ability to sense other people's emotions, "putting yourself in someone else's shoes" as widely mentioned, this classic notion of empathy is so accurately felt by us Ukrainians that we believe this is a critical element of our strength. We know that you feel our pain at every photo depicting our destroyed homes.
We also know that we share the same tears as it would be possible to surpass time zones and thousands of kilometers or miles to cry at the same time. Empathy is powerful enough to turn the planet into a small village of united people to a common cause or feeling, and I have a hint of why this empathic encounter between people has been so intense: we meet the perfection between theory and practice in what takes to this description.
According to specialists, there are three levels of empathy. Wearing someone's else's shoes, the "cognitive" level, is an essential step but only the first one as it's focused on the idea of "understanding" and it's mostly based on prior experiences and knowledge.
The "emotional" level, the second one, goes further and establishes a connection between hearts. It incorporates someone's current experience into someone other's own experience. "Your pain in my heart". Feelings then go not above or apart, but together. In this phase, we're actively sharing love, suffering or pain.
The third level projects "action" to the previous concepts and makes a movement, engaging in a helpful reaction because we just cannot stay silent by seeing someone's pain. "Action" means getting involved, being informed, sharing, retweeting, discussing, and understanding the situation as well as what's at stake here. Very important, means pressuring your governments to never abandon us.
In other words, getting active instead of passively reading news. This activity, this chain of action and prayers, most probably, has never been seen in such scale and in such global scale. If you are reading this, you are most likely part of millions and millions that dedicate so much of your empathy and compassion to help us in the way you can.
I want to share one of the most touching pieces of empathy I've seen in all these months. This is a poetry from my good friend Tate Ellis, who even living half of world of distance from this war is able to feel like anyone of us Ukrainians, and express so beautifully like very few of us, the challenges we have been living in this time in history. Tate's poetry is available in the substack Sunflowers in the Blood, a jewel of newsletter dedicated to creative thoughts and impressions about Ukraine.
Warmed by the light
Cold breakfast and hot coffee
Left that taste in our mouths
Shared cigarettes, puffed clouds
Laughter into blackberry blue winter skies
Warm exhausts and engine whines
What we thought was the sun turned our insides out
And left us on the road
Iron taste in our mouths
Arms legs intertwined we held hands
This time into the sunrise
Ammunition cooked off
Our overhead fireworks show
Over our ditch, stains in the snow
Warmed from each others’ last breaths
And our cries for home.
Next dawn, the new offensive
New tanks, fresh coffee and crew
Dead mouths can’t warn you
That the sunrise in the morning
Will break your heart in two.
Warmed by the light by Tate Ellis
Be proud of your empathy. It makes our society much better to live. It makes our world a better place to everyone of us.