5/15/2025
What is empathy? Empathy is often described as the ability to “know what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes.” For me, empathy is a verb which requires taking some kind of action. For example, I can think in my mind, or feel in my heart, that I understand the experience that someone else is having. However, being able to demonstrate or use empathy means that I will take an action within the framework of my thoughts and feelings around someone else’s experience. Most people associate empathy with fields such as social work, psychology, nursing or other medical caregivers, and other careers related to human or social services.
The month of May is a time to celebrate graduation and many young people are focused on what they will do with the knowledge they have accumulated. This May is no different and I personally know over 8 people who are graduating and receiving everything from a High School diploma to a PhD, and all the levels in between. And each graduate is asking the same question – “what is next and how can I be successful?” I think it is important that graduates take the time to define for themselves how they define success and how they will know when it is achieved.
It warms my heart that Tim Cook, a leader in the technology and business field has included empathy as a critical component for success in your career, see the quote PWA is highlighting this week. I hope all of us can take inspiration from a very successful and powerful business leader supporting service to humanity and recognizing the power of empathy. Often people link empathy or even work in human services to a less profitable career. But Tim Cook reminds us that success is linked to how well you take the time to understand others and to have empathy. It seems logical to take the next step and celebrate a workforce that is able to actively listen to others, incorporate others views and experiences into their work, and frame others growth or success as intricately linked to their own.
If we accept the premise that empathy is linked to the ability to understand or experience what someone else is going through, it seems logical these skills are useful when working with patients or when helping someone with a mental health diagnosis. And, for many measures of success in the business world, being able to develop and market a useful product which is in actuality useful to other people will lead to a greater probability of success. But, I would like to think that Mr. Cook is actually challenging us to keep our heart in our work each day. He seems to be saying that success is not only defined by monetary wealth. No one in my life would consider me proficient in technology but perhaps he is warning us, and the 2025 graduates, to keep our hearts and our humanity in tact as AI crashes into our daily life.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for Tuesday’s Region 3 meeting! Your voices, energy, and commitment help move our mission forward. Together, we’re building stronger, healthier communities—one conversation at a time. Keep an eye out in our Region 3 Hub for minutes, highlights, and video of the meeting if you missed it this week.
Take a moment and imagine what we’d ask ourselves after receiving devastating health news. Will our health insurance cover this (if you have it)? Do we have a way to consistently get to our appointments? Do we have a safe place to live? Can we keep our homes if we miss work due to this? Will my friends and family be there for me?
For those we help, unfortunately those questions are met with extreme uncertainty. For this reason, PWA urges you to consider making a planned monthly donation to PWA. For as little as $30 a month, you can help heat a home in the winter and have A/C in the summer. For $50 a month you help children get a healthy breakfast each day. For $100 a month, you can help provide a housing deposit that allows a single parent to move into an apartment.
In today’s challenging times, let’s come together to make sure that we can help as many as possible.