About Empathy

aka Walk a Mile in My Shoes

Sep 13, 2025

Once upon a time, oh around the late 1960s -70s, there was a major social movement in the United States. Some called it flower power, some called it the anti-war movement, and others called it The Great Awakening. Yes, it was the Baby Boomers’ coming of age era and their resistance to their parents’ ways of doing things, but it became more than just the normal progression from one generation to the next. It accelerated the shift away from imperialist-colonial policies of the country to more of a cooperation/ assistance focus not only globally but individually.

Think JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you” speech, the Peace Corps, the creation of USAID, the Civil Rights Movement, the ecological movement that led to the creation of the EPA, Woodstock, women’s rights…

A big hit in 1970 was Joe South’s “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” (recorded also by Elvis Presley), which expressed how the people in that era tried to be more aware:

If I could be you, And you could be me For just one hour If we could find a way To get inside Each other's mind, mm-hmm
If you could see you Through my eyes Instead of your ego
I believe you'd be Surprised to see That you've been blind, mm-hmm
Walk a mile in my shoes /Walk a mile in my shoes
Hey, before you abuse criticize and accuse
Walk a mile in my shoes Now, your whole world You see around you Is just a reflection
And the law of karma Says you're gonna reap Just what you sow, yes you will
So unless You've lived a life Of total perfection
You better be careful Of every stone That you should throw, yeah
And yet we spend the day Throwing stones At one another
'Cause I don't think Or wear my hair Same way you do, mm-hmm
Well, I may be Common people But I'm your brother
And when you strike out And try to hurt me It's hurtin' you, Lord have mercy
(Chorus)
There are people On reservations And out in the ghettos
And brother, there But for the grace of God Go you and I, yeah, yeah
And if I only Had the wings Of a little angel, yeah
Don't you know I'd fly To the top of the mountain And then I'd cry, hey
Walk a mile in my shoes / Walk a mile in my shoes
Hey, before you abuse / Criticize and accuse
Better walk a mile in my shoes1

Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is called EMPATHY:

Empathy noun: em·pa·thy [ˈem-pə-thē]: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.

Sympathy vs. Empathy : Sympathy and empathy both refer to a caring response to the emotional state of another person, but a distinction between them is typically made: while sympathy is a feeling of sincere concern for someone who is experiencing something difficult or painful, empathy involves actively sharing in the emotional experience of the other person.2

*See also, “consideration” and “respect”.

Once upon a time, it was a good thing to be considerate of others. It was a good thing to consider other people’s plights and try to help them. It was a good thing to think about what effect your words or actions might have. People who made fun of others, or were bullies, were neither revered nor admired.

Yet here we are:

Charlie Kirk once sneered, “I can’t stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up new age term, and it does a lot of damage.”3

This shows me someone who never took a humanities class in either high school or college (considering the fact Kirk dropped out of community college, makes sense) because reading literature, especially fiction, actually forces one to become more empathetic. Because in order to read and understand the story, the reader must put themselves in the characters’ shoes.

While I vehemently disagreed with this person’s opinions, he had the right to express them, and as a white man of privilege, he could expect to do so without fearing for his life. Contrary to popular opinion, the First Amendment does not give anyone the right to incite violence. It says the government can’t silence you for your opinions. Obviously, someone felt — wrongly —they had the right to silence Mr. Kirk. They did not. Just as no one has the right to execute little kids in their classrooms, or mow down concert goers, or spray bullets around a Safeway parking lot.

I have sympathy for his family for their loss.

Now there are people out there trying to canonize this person as a proponent of “free speech”. He was anything but. “Prove me wrong” may have been his catch phrase, but the fact is, he would never allow anyone else to actually present their ideas without belittling them. He was a major proponent of hate speech on social media with little regard for anyone else’s opinions.

According to Dr. Timothy Snyder:

In difficult times we need to be careful with language, and keeping important distinctions in mind can help us, at the very least, from making things worse. For example, there is a difference worth noticing, and noting, between “me speech” and “free speech”.
“Me speech” is a common practice among rich and influential Americans. Practitioners of “me speech” use the phrase “free speech” quite a bit. But what they mean is free speech for themselves. They want a monopoly on it.
They believe that they are right about everything, and so they should always have giant platforms, in real life or on social media. The people with whom they disagree, however, should be called out and intimidated in an organized way on social media, or subjected to algorithmic discrimination so that their voices are not heard. These people suppress the freedom of speech. But because they repeat the phrase “free speech” quite a lot, the media will often associate them with the idea. This, of course, tends to make the notion of “free speech” meaningless.4

Without empathy, we turn away from helping others. Without empathy, we disregard others’ suffering. Without empathy, we become cruel, heartless jerks. Without empathy, countries start wars, commit genocide, foul the earth.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my country to be selfish, cruel, and heartless. We need empathy to make the world better, healthier, safer, and more peaceful for our children and their children. And on that note:

No more turning away / From the weak and the weary
No more turning away / From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?5