Dear Empathizers,
“Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.”–Terence
That means “I am a human being, I consider nothing that is human alien to me.” Terence was a Roman playwright over 2000 years ago, but I think this thought still holds true today. To empathize means to see a bit of others in ourselves and a bit of ourselves in others. It’s often hard to do, but like anything, empathizing is a skill that we can get better at.
People make decisions for a variety of reasons. We’re best not to judge them too harshly if they’re decisions we disagree with or think we wouldn’t make for ourselves. No matter what someone does, we must always treat them as human beings deserve to be treated.
Sincerely,
Mr. Heimbuck
letters to my class 
2 responses to “30 January 2015”
Maya Angelou often cites this as her favorite quote. She says she thinks of it both when something wondrous happens and something terrible happens. Because we are human both the wondrous and terrible are inside us. We too are capable of the wondrous and terrible because we are human.
Melissa, it’s mostly terrible when you and I join forces. Wondrously terrible.