A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered — he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”
The mouse turned to the cow and said “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose.”
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house — like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.
But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral; the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
The next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember — when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage and help one another.
2,587 visits
empathy
Hello Friends & Chronically Ill & Terminally Ill Survivors:
May God bless you and keep you sane, prayerful and hopeful. Pray in the morning for yourself, your family and the world. It is a journey to live ill and be surrounded by family and friends you love but they do not understand the struggle of surviving ill. Every morning you awake in pain, misunderstood, waiting on someone to be considerate of all the agony overflowing from your suffering to death state of being. The government wants to pretend we do not exist. Programs for the ill and dying are being cut by old, white haired men and women who are comfortably living with public and private medical coverage, caregiver help by an immigrant, or low income worker as the go to work and write legislation denying us, the taxpaying Americans, or former taxpaying Americans who pay for their comfortable existence and the right to die with dignity. We all need the same environment to die in peace. A clean, dry, home, clean sheets on a bed, balanced meals, our medicine, someone to care for us when we are too ill to move even to reach for a glass of water, and a little respect given to our state of suffering. We are of value while dying, lying, and waiting for the last breath to be taken. It's like, senators, congressmen and legislators think they can write us out of being in our homes, throwing sick, elderly, mentally ill neighbors, community out into the street, disgracing someone whom has earned the right to be, by denying proper housing, and money for proper health care. Family members try to be understanding but miss the mark often by being irritated or resentful they have to do for you, just lying there sick. What they do not understand is their time is coming, and who will give them mercy and compassion? . Parents need to stop and teach children how to properly care for an ill friend or family member. Being kind is the first lesson, doing what you can, offer a ride somewhere, brush an ill person's hair who has been laying a week without so much as a hello how do you feel today by the family they live with. It takes a long time to die; TV shows have wrecked our sense of humanity and compassion. Getting a warm face cloth and wiping down an ill bedridden family member without being asked. Make yourself available to serve and do what you can. Stop and prepare lunch and sit and eat with an ill family member. Go get someone trapped in the house and take him or her for a ride and have a conversation with them about life. You too are going to be the ill person you are talking to one day. Able-bodied people! Wake up and dust off you humanity, prove we are an honor bound worthy group of human beings by actions of serving. I am dying from a rare liver disease, complicated by intractable pain, Peripheral Neuropathy, a painful nerve disease effecting my standing, walking, 24/7 excruciating pain, which I speak to no one about I just bear it. My feelings have been hurt by the lack of understanding, empathy from those who claim to love me. I need something from Walgreen's right now and there is not one person I can call to get it without a bunch of" Do you need it now? Then I'll do it, then oh I forgot for two days, then resentment and irritation when I remind them they forgot, including my vitally needed prescriptions. Every month it is a big deal. What day do you need to pick up your prescriptions? Every month it is the same day and they cannot remember. Last month, they just decided to say they were going to get it then come home and say oh I did not get your prescriptions is that okay? I said no! I have been out for two days! I'm sorry I did not know, that why you should have kept your word, and picked up all my medicine. The caregivers that work thinks their lives are more important than yours. The insult of being de valued by inaction, when you were well and ran and did whatever they needed now you need the favor of basic respect of keeping their word to an ill person just laying there seems overwhelming to them, because they are so busy. The whole world is busy, let's preserve our self-respect and be a proper caregiver for God' s sake. Be kinder, listen to the pain in the survivors voice and be grateful to God it is not you and do something to relieve just a little misery from an ill person's life. My brother does not have a heart or conscious and is pretending I do not exist so he will not have to offer any emotion, assistance, or kindness. He does not work, nor pay rent. But he is so busy being busy. Too busy to walk across the lawn and say hello how are you today? Or my favorite is he tells people I am faking dying, so do not come see me. He is malicious and ignorant. He agreed to bring me ice in a 100 degree day so no one else will bring it then don’t so I will suffer. I just pray for him because his time will come. I was a caregiver even after I was too ill to work. I did what I could for whomever I could until I became bed ridden. My telephone does not ring. I am surrounded by friends and family I broke my back for helping, going, doing, giving rides, cooking for, praying for who do not even call to say hello are you still suffering to death. I just pray for them to be educated in kindness and compassion before they die. Mercy is a rare quality and giving it to a dying suffering person is honorable. I learn how to let go with grace, every day, adapt to being trapped in the house and in bed with no one to have a conversation with, how to not burst out crying when I have to ask, and ask, and ask to get a ride to the drug store once a month. Forget having what I want from the grocery store, it does not happen, so I let the want go, so I am not hurt. Let your wants go and try to sustain your needs if you are the ill one. I forgive them for selfishness, ignorance, neglect, for isolating me, thinking less of me because I am dying because I know I am still beautiful, funny, talkative, bright, but I cannot get a ride to the park for fifteen minutes to get some air. Who are we really if we cannot say we care for those ill friends, family and community with the utmost sense of duty because we know our time will come and we hope someone will be standing over us doing what is necessary to make us comfortable, keep us clean, dry, with water to drink, food prepared when we are too ill to do it ourselves. Think carefully about how you are caring for those in your life who are ill, be present, take responsibility, do what is right and hug somebody tonight who needs it. We are our brother, sisters and children's keepers. In the end all we have is our honor and the pride from our service given to our fellow women, men in their time of need. God Bless you all and I hope my thoughts have given someone enlightenment or comfort.
I am a 46 unemployed father of 2 daughters ages 2 and 3, I've been deteriorating financially since June 2009 from the extrication of prior employer. I am unable to pay rent for November 2009 and December 2009, I've already received a eviction notice for November's payment. I have been seeking employment vigorously through internet sites, cold calling etc...Myself and my family need financial assistance to keep our home, so if you have the empathy, compasion and the desire to provide the necessary funds PLEASE ASSIST.
SEEING THROUGH THE EYES OF ANOTHER: THE GIFT OF EMPATHY!
Nick Ralls
I step into the shoes and try to understand all those who come into my life... realising they come into my life for a reason. I learn the art of empathy so that I can imagine, feel and accept the experience and feelings of others and, therefore, love them more.
IF we are to love other people we need to step into their shoes... see the world from their eyes.
With that comes understanding.. true understanding
How often are we judgmental, fearful, ignorant because we cannot see, for the life of us, another's point of view?
If we are to genuinely love people we need to learn the art of empathy. Empathy is basically our ability to imagine, feel and accept the experience and feelings of others.
I believe we were given the gift of imagination so that we could see into the inner worlds of others... to show love and understanding.
And we have the gift of our feelings which means that we can feel at one with another. We can see into the heart of another.
When we wish to understand and, therefore, love another we need to set aside our own personal judgments, opinions and advice.
If not we might be led into temptation... we might try to mould them, control them or distance ourselves from them when that might not be our intention.
Instead we need to open our mind and heart...
So let us step into the shoes of another.. float into their body...imagine we are them, looking at the world through a different pair of eyes.
We need to tell our critical mind to take a walk while we picture ourselves in the circumstances of another, experiencing their own struggle and fears, feeling their feelings.
It can help to recall as much as we know about the person's life history... what they went through as a child..what they have had to face in their life.. where their insecurities lay.
And when we can see into a person in that way, we can love them deeply and meaningfully like never before....
We can then truly feel at one with them.... not apart or distant from them.
If we are to live from the heart it can be a good practice to regularly practise empathy with the people who come into our life.. we can seek to understand those who make us fearful or irritate us as well as those whom we adore.
In that way we can love all people...and we can take ourselves out of fear and more into love!
So dear and special friend.. I recognise my oneness with you... I love you for being in the world and I wish that we can step out of fear into love.. more and more.
I agree and hope empathy spreads. I hope to step out of fear into love and I hope you can to!
Victoria Placeo
Welcome to Aidpage!
Aidpage is a special place where people help each other by speaking out and paying attention to each other.
What TO DO on Aidpage
1. Speak out
Describe your problems and needs. Or, tell a success story - about overcoming problems.
You may have already posted something - a comment, a question, or a short note. Add to it - write more. You may not be ready to write today - no problem. Come back tomorrow - add more info about yourself, make new pages, and insert pictures in your posts. The more you write and post pictures - the more people would be willing to come to your pages and write back to you.
2. Pay attention
Browse the pages of other aidmates - people will see that you are paying attention to them. Once they see that you have visited, they'd most likely pay a visit back to your own page.
Post comments and questions on the pages of other aidmates. Don't be shy. This is the purpose of Aidpage - to get people pay attention to each other.
What NOT to do on Aidpage
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Do NOT post your email address, phone number, or street address on your public aidpages if you don't want to get a lot of spam and fraudulent offers in your mail and over the phone.
People will contact you through messages here on Aidpage.
Why is it safer to use Aidpage messages? Because spammers and scammers would have to register on Aidpage in order to communicate with you - and they normally don't want to do that. Even if they register as aidmates, once they start spamming, they are quickly discovered and removed from the system. -
If looking for help, do NOT ask directly for money. Explain your problems and let people decide how they could help you. You cannot be sure what kind of help is best for you.
You are a tourist on a city street... trying to find your way. How do you get help?
Help Yourself
You use a map or a booklet with information about the city. That's ok... although... feels a bit like work... and is somewhat lonely.
People Helping People
You ask a passer-by for directions... Or simply, a passer-by recognizes your "tourist" behavior, stops on his/her own will and spends 30 seconds (often much more) helping you. You feel good. The passer-by feels even better. Witnessing onlookers feel good too. What happens is an easy, almost instinctive "give and take"... so natural that we don't even think about who "gives", who "takes", or why is this happening. This is not "giving"... people are just helping each other.
So... what is Aidpage?
Aidpage is a free public space on the Web where you can:
- speak out about your problems and needs,
- act upon your need to help others,
- join or organize groups for good causes.
Aidpage fosters informal communication among Aidmates, sharing of experience, and mutual support. Simply posting on Aidpage makes you an Aidmate.
Need to know more?
Here are a few links to the aidpages of a few veteran Aidmates:
See also:
