Empathy in Action: Story of a Virtual Get-

Together
The text below is my reflection directed to my diary, concerning one of the times I practiced what I captured
from the Empathy Circles Workshop :)))

Dear Dearie (Pun on my Diary),

Talking about Empathy in Action reminds me of the blissful 27 June evening, when I hosted the first
ever get-together for my classmates (I was the new class monitor, woohoo!). About 18 of 34 had signed
up for a series of humorous prompts, ice-breakers and plain hang-outs. Among them was Divyansh, an
apparent stranger and the only person who turned up for that meet. I was a bit sad, but eventually
happy as I didn’t need to make break-out rooms.

Hangout prompts:
Tell us about yourself

Gaze at your childhood, feeling good to be there?

Which word best describes your pandemic time?

He was overwhelmed by the questions, thinking as to how he

should be frank to a stranger. It was then I realised the need of
being vulnerable. Sometimes it is necessary to take the first step,
which is what I did, by telling him my responses first. I told him
about my birth in the world of expectations, how my childhood
was lost to bullying and a deceitful mother. About the relief and
refuge books and nature gave me, and how the bubble bursts in
the tenth grade, when I nearly lost myself to people’s
expectations (marks, grades and all that nerd-stuff). And finally I
told him how the Pandemic made me connect with nature even
more, giving me a sense of belonging to my needs, to the world and my generation

Hearing my story inspired him to share his own. He was a boy born in a normal family (relatives are a
pain here, offer tons of advice but not even a piece of candy :’)), to normal parents, but with an
enthusiasm for sports. I was bemused at his passion, for I loved football (but lost my time being a nerdy
defender) and could appreciate to meet a person who followed his calling. But soon the rhyme of
resonance marred his teenage- expectations forced him to study for good grades, and sideline his
passion. That defined his dislike for studies, which was worsened by the pandemic.
 I could completely resonate with his story, and unnaturally felt bad for how others defined his hate. His
reply for the third prompt was a classic:

BORING............
A sealed neighbourhood stole the playground’s liberty. Now with him
and his books alone in a room, it was analogous to mixing water with
fire, except the fire was now too bored to burn. I was appalled– on one
hand I relished these times making friends and on the other his time
was blemished by boredom. It felt like an impossible situation, until I
came up with a different perspective, a clarification that did help
him. I told him about how my excitement for seeing patterns turned
my dread for math into a lifelong friendship. About my hate for
Economics wither out by storytelling scarcity to my sisters. It is okay
to fall in the trap of grades, but it is your responsibility to get out of
them. My clarification cleared his assumptions on studies; my
consistent questions cushioned him to share his concerns on them.
Eventually we got a massive ground to connect. No wonder I’m losing
to the new chess tournaments (I thought I was a GM :’) ), while he’s
enjoying Economics lessons in the class :)))))))

Thus we came in as strangers complaining about the lazy classmates, and went out as friends for yore.
It couldn’t happen without us being vulnerable, to inspire, resonate and empathise with each other. I’m
planning to host more such “get-togethers” (ironic hehe, but I don’t care if we are the only ones who
attend). In a world of billions, this was yet another blissful chance of

seeing the human first ;)

See ya tomorrow, my dearie <3

Arman