Day 48 - Empathy

Brigham was doing well as a Pokémon trainer. He had added a few new Pokémon to his team and his Tepig, Heber, had evolved into a Pignite! He had challenged and earned gym badges from three different gyms! He had even teamed up with his Pokémon to rescue someone's kidnapped Pokémon. Despite all of his early success something was really bothering him. He hurt deeply whenever one of his Pokémon fainted. He saw their pain and felt empathy for them and their pain. He also felt guilty for putting them in harms way just so he could have his success or feel the thrill of battling. He was already beginning to better understand why his father had had a dramatic change of opinion about training Pokémon, and he wondered if perhaps Team Plasma was right in thier belief that no one should own Pokémon or make them fight. Brigham was terribly conflicted.

Overall I feel that Empathy is a skill and a gift. Having Empathy can help us to lighten the burdens of other and allow us to cause less unintended hurt. Yet, sometimes it is difficult when we feel empathy towards others. It can be exhausting to share and live in that pain with others. On occasion it can bring us down and make us question our own behavior. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is difficult nonetheless to be regularly bending and expanding ones self. I regularly strive to have greater sympathy and empathy for those around me, and I hope by doing so I can be molded into a better version of myself!