Acting Heroically with Empathy, Kindness, and Compassion
"We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say, 'It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.' Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes."
-Humanitarian Fred Rogers
We are now fully feeling the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In previous weeks perhaps it seemed imaginary, but now we are faced with a new very daunting reality. As the scope of pandemic becomes evident and our daily lives are increasingly altered, the absolute need for us to act heroically with empathy, kindness, and compassion is ever present.
Through our research and professional experience, we know one key thing: In times of emergency, the providing of empathy, kindness, and compassion to our fellow citizens is the single most important factor in surviving the initial stages of disaster, limiting suffering, protecting the vulnerable, and quickly recovering in the aftermath of the crisis.
As we have seen, this epidemic is bringing out the best, and worst, in us. At its worst, we are witnessing people speaking out as fear, frustration, uncertainly, and massive disruptions to our daily routines grow. With these we see increases in victim blaming, intolerance, hostility, and at its very worst violence stoked by racism and the promotion of xenophobic beliefs.
We also witness the uninformed questioning of the advice of doctors, scientists, and experts on the frontlines of this disease. Instead many people are following unsafe behaviors, self-medicating, and putting their, and many others, lives at risk. This is understandable as we all grapple with frustration and fear. Nonetheless, it is critical that we act based on facts.
This frightening and uncertain environment also exacerbates social isolation, particularly of the most vulnerable within our society, the old, the ill, the very young, and the socially marginalized. The social and psychological toll of this is and will be, massive.
In the face of a global pandemic, we as individuals are the first responders. Thankfully we are also seeing inspirational acts of kindness, selflessness, and empathy. We see examples of the world sharing responsibility for, and with, one another. And within our local Pennsylvania communities, people are providing support to others even in the face of social-distancing, quarantine, and fear.
In a movement across social media, educators of all levels are connecting with their students and reaching out to families to offer expertise and assistance in their sudden new responsibility in home-schooling their children. In Merion, Pennsylvania, elementary teachers created an uplifting supportive video for their students, sending messages reminding their students to challenge their minds every day. Teachers across the state are creating innovative ways to reach the 21% of families who do not have internet access, including mailing out paper packets of activities to keep learning happening for as long as schools are closed. Susan Graham of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania offers crafting sessions to her employees children two days a week, even mailing out needed supplies in advance. While most of her employees already worked from home before the closures, Susan saw the emerging need to occupy kids so their parents could focus on work for a few hours a week.
Across Pennsylvania, local communities are searching for ways to spread happiness to those who are staying at home. Animal shelters are emptying out as people foster and adopt new family members for company during isolation. In Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, one of the hardest-hit areas in the state, Dolores Magro plays guitar from her porch while her neighbors listen from their homes or from a safe distance across the street. A local theater company in Norristown, Pennsylvania created a YouTube channel called Horizon at Home where they provide free instruction on stage makeup, yoga, and musical theater dance classes for patrons who cannot make a trip to the theater.
And local heroes are rallying to make sure basic needs are met. Last week, Wings Over Happy Valley in State College, Pennsylvania learned that families were struggling to feed their children with schools being closed, so they offered free lunches to young patrons. Cafeteria workers across the state are still working daily to make sure hungry students can pick up free breakfasts and lunches, giving struggling families one less worry in this stressful time. Famous Philadelphia costume designer, James May, and his wife Betty Lou, put their costume designs on pause to make masks for medical professionals in hospitals across the city. In Latrobe, Pennsylvania, St. Vincent College's Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing recently made a sizable donation of laboratory supplies to aid first responders and medical personnel. At Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, staff at the biomedical and industrial systems engineering department sequestered themselves in the 3D printing lab to print face shields for the medical community. With the printers running around the clock they are able to make 300 shields in just a few days.
Across the state, we hear such stories of people coming together. These acts of kindness, compassion, and empathy continue to grow, and will grow far faster than any seeds of division if we commit to making them more important than hatred or fear.
Sometimes the world can look so big that it is hard to know where to start to show kindness, compassion, and empathy. It is times like this when the words of humanitarian and children TV presenter and educator the late Fred Rogers ring true: "The deep and simple is far more essential than the shallow and complex." Even the simplest acts of kindness, compassion, and empathy are felt so deeply in times of uncertainty. No act is too simple, no moment too small, to bring comfort and healing throughout our communities.
Now is a chance for all of us to act heroically and show compassion, kindness and empathy.
You have the ability and opportunity to ease the fear of children and others by talking to them about what this crisis and ensuring that scientists and doctors are going to fix this. You have the ability to help ensure the health of the elderly but limiting their potential exposure by shopping for them while talking routinely with them to help them feel less isolated and alone. You can challenge victim blaming and hateful speak when you hear it. You can donate time, money, food, and share your skills to support any need in your community. These are but a few small examples of things you can do. What is important is that you look for opportunities to demonstrate empathy and kindness, and act on them.
Finally, and much more important, we look back to history. Faced with war, disease, disaster, terrorism, and other threats, those that will be remembered for making a difference are those who showed compassion, kindness, and empathy to fellow human beings in their greatest hours of need. Compassion, empathy, and kindness are at the core of our humanity and the cornerstone of our capacity to respond and recover from this current crisis.
Together, and supported by each other, we will get through this.
*This is a piece that was largely written for USA Today and published on March 24th, 2020.
Complete news item: We're all first responders amid coronavirus, armed with kindness, compassion and empathy
We've altered the content to be Pennsylvania specific, as we see many local heroes right here in our home state.
