Any time I come across a brand on social media that claims it has a social cause angle to it as well, the first section I check is the About section. I love finding out how someone decided that recycling plastics to make shoes was a great idea. Or why someone thought of using rag cloths and cans to make handbags.
While it feels great to support brands like these by purchasing their products, I know how good I feel when I buy a 100% recycled item, it is also possible to invest in the growth of social entrepreneurs. And the great thing is, Rang De which is a peer-to-peer lending platform to enable last mile financial inclusion, already has a list of such people.
It made me wonder at the story behind the starting of Rang De. Because every cause and championing of it is personal and it matters why you choose to talk about something.
That’s when I found the article of Ramakrishna NK, Co-founder of Rang De, his first experiment with empathy and how that experiment became the seed of founding Rang De. He says something in the article that really got me thinking: many of us live an entire life and not express our empathy because we were not presented with an opportunity.
It reminded me of how overwhelming it can be to champion causes. We always think that only big gestures can make change happen but that’s not true. Small steps lead to ripple effects.
Like making sure your family does not throw garbage on the road. Or learning from a cousin the simple act of thanking guards, liftmen, taxi and auto drivers, and house helps.
Like my sister’s questions around what it means to be gay or lesbian or why they are shamed led me to actually pay attention to challenges of the LGBT and other minority communities more closely than the surface level I had engaged on until then.
Like Ramakrishna turning a simple food fest at a college event into a birthday bash for the children in an orphanage. And allowing the student body which was otherwise entrenched in malcontent to participate in an empathetic event.
It is so easy to get bogged down with our opinions and how we see life. There is nothing wrong in having and sticking to your perspective. But it is not okay to turn your opinion into a measuring stick to judge someone with.
One of my favourite ways of showing empathy is to listen to someone’s perspective and to be open to everything. A teacher of mine said that it’s okay to be empty because then you’re not listening to someone with yardsticks. You’re simply listening to them and creating a space for them and you to be vulnerable.
You’re giving someone an opportunity to show empathy when you do every day acts of kindness. A birthday party may not matter in the grand scheme of things but it is showing someone that any act can be turned into an empathetic act. Like appreciating nature around you.
What are a few ways you like to show empathy?
This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter.
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