Life
According to the dictionary, empathy is defined as “the understanding of another’s situation, feelings, and motives”. I can find it difficult to understand that a person could lack such consideration and compassion for another living creature, but, clearly, I have seen otherwise. On many occasions, you have witnessed disconcerting behavior both aimed at yourself or other individuals and have questioned our society's complacent moral standards. For as long as I can remember, the ability to treat others with kindness has been second nature to many, and a missing link in their moral practices and beliefs.
Naturally, my mother was a pivotal person in creating my moral standards, but my peers were equally important. My parents divorced when I was six years old and shortly after my older sister and brother moved out on their own. At this point in her life, my mother had never worked, and suddenly she found herself financially vulnerable. It was just my mother and I, and as she liked to say, “It’s you and me against the world." Do not get me wrong, I was very happy. My mother and I were extremely close, and even though I did not have the best clothes, the best housing, my mother gave me so much love and generosity in other ways, that I felt I was the luckiest kid in the world. Less privileged financially than my peers, overweight, and extremely buck toothed, I became the target of much teasing.
At the age of thirteen, my life began to change dramatically for the better, but still there were difficult circumstances beyond my control. The braces for my buckteeth were in the near future, and my wardrobe included brand new clothes. Indeed life held new promises for my mother and me; however, the devastation from my first day of eighth grade was a hindrance that would be hard to overcome.
Remembering the painful experience of that day at the bus stop, never again did I look at someone who was less fortunate or different physically and form an opinion...
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