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Alexander Case 

Carole Center 

11/9/20 

English Paper 3 

Ability to understand others 

Understanding others does not mean that you must agree with their feelings or point of view. Instead, it means that you recognize their point of view and accept that it is different from yours. You may still have to do difficult things that others do not agree with but hopefully both you and they understand that. Having empathy is very useful as it often helps to understand others so we can help or deceive them, but sometimes we need to be able to switch off our empathetic feelings to protect our own lives, and those of others. These are cognitive, emotional and compassionate empathy. This page explains what is meant by each of these types of empathy. It also explains how and why it is possible to demonstrate one or more of the three types of empathy yet still come across as uncaring. 

Empathy is expressed through you and everyone else in different ways. An example that Nedra Tawwab expresses is “People have a full story and just because they did something bad or unfavorable, they probably have also done so many kind and good things in their life, too.” Tawwab knows that you are entitled to whatever you want to share or feel to whoever you may but that just because a person does something that does not mean that is who they are off of that one choice or decision they may have made. You make choices every day and sometimes you do not make the right choice but you do not know what is going on in another person’s life. That choice may affect you at that moment in a negative way but you do not know what it does to the other person. Tawwab also states “I think the exposure can be more impactful in terms of changing people’s mind-set then arguing or creating a disagreement.” You can try an impact someone with empathy but that does not mean that you are going to change their mind on whatever topic you may be talking about. To people some things that may affect them would be if you show purpose in what you are talking about, don’t try and solve their problems but help them and show them a better path as to what you think should go on. Trying to understand someone you may have just met will not work the first time in most situations because people may think why should I listen to this random person that I have just met. 

Your perspective in taking a point of view of another person is huge in better understanding others. A nice thing about having the skill that allows us to better explore a situation that may have happened in the past. Perspective can also help people in making an upcoming decision that may have to be made. Karamo Brown says “I don’t think we do that enough as human beings, as a country or as a society.” Brown is referring to people making choices about people before you even know them. Things that you wear, do as a job, people you hang out with or even the car you drive all have things to do with how people will portray you as a person. There is so much that us as humans do not understand about empathy and why people portray people even if we may not even know them. Leslie Jamison said in an article “Im approaching empathy as, ‘There’s so much I don’t know about the vast mystery of other people’s experiences, but what are the small ways I can at on that unknowing.” I interpret this as her saying people do not know much about understanding other people and why some may do the things they do. People have a lot to learn about the human race still as it is always evolving. 

Having empathy as a human being is a great thing for many reasons. Building trust, creating a good environment to be around it also allows you to conversate more with others. Conversating with others you do not know because you are being a genuine person is a good thing to have. In a way you are marketing yourself as a person to let others help understand you. People with the strength or skill of empathy sense the emotions of the people around them. Empathy is very welcoming and provides a safe place for people to express their feelings. This ability brings a sense of peace to people. Comfortable people with empathy see the world through the feelings of others as well as their emotions.  

Empathy alone does not cause for people to act on how they are feeling. Empathy is a very encouraging thing to most people if you are someone that cares how others around you are always feeling. Emotional empathy is thought to be limited for a couple reasons; large number of people will feel a lesser effect of you because of your surroundings. Empathy is also less effective on people that may already be suffering from things that are out of their control. It may be hard for someone not comfortable with who they are as a person to talk but listening can be a very big role in bettering themselves.  

Empathy allows people to build social connections with others by understanding what people are thinking and feeling, people can respond appropriately in social situations. Research shows that having social connections is important for both physical and psychological well-being. Understanding yourself as well as others is not an easy thing to do. Once you understand others you become more confident in who you are as a person. You are more motivated to do good to not only yourself but others.  

Alexander Case 

Carole Center 

ENGLISH  

9/23/2020 

Finding your True Self 

A person who is confident in themselves have found their true self. In this process it can be very challenging in many ways. A main challenge in finding your true identity is accepting where you come from as a person. Many people come from very different places in the world, and sometimes it is hard to accept that some people are born into a better situation than others. People do not choose how hard theirs parents have worked or what they have achieved in their life before you were brought in to be a part of it. Every part of the world that you grow up in you will face different challenges. When you are born you don’t choose your name. When you grow up and develop knowledge like understanding people may not like the name that they are given. Your name is one of the most important things in your life, it is what you are addressed by and one of the first things people will “judge” you on when you meet them. Religion could also be a challenge growing up. If you are growing up in a family with a religion that they have and the only one they know, you are not given much of a chance to choose what you really believe in. All these challenges effect every individual in society in their own way. Everywhere you go in society you are judged as a person. Society usually has an interpretation in their head of you based off your looks and people that you are with. If this judgmental challenge that many people face were to change, it would call for people to take out their egos and not “judge” or “identify” anyone by looks. The main challenge I see about finding your true identity would be being raised into a certain culture or religion.  

Culture and Religion bring a great identity to who you are as a person. Finding your true self is a big part of your journey to where life will take you with your identity. An example in the Lin article when it says “My name links me with my family, with the island nations that are ever more distant from my life. (Although the links can be very general: I share my last name with 8 percent of Taiwanese people.) My mother’s maiden name, Nakamura, is my sisters’ and my middle name.” This quote shows that where you are born names are going to be very common and similar to one another. Finding your true self when you may be around someone who was raised just like you can be challenging to be your own person. In the Hennick article he quotes “It’s impossible right now to know what sort of impact race will have on Nile’s sense of identity, or how it will circumscribe his ability to move through the world as he pleases.” This quote also shows that growing up as a black young man some people will look down on you because the color of your skin. He talks about not knowing what sort of impact having black skin is like in the community around him. Having colored skin could make it a huge challenge for some people in finding their true self with people looking down on them for no reason. An example could be in today’s society with the Black lives matter movement. Equality is a big problem in the United States and people growing up in this situation is something they are trying to change. 

People throughout our whole world struggle with finding their true self identity. Things that affect finding your true self would be inner motivations, self-expression, and self-definition. Finding inner motivations by finding your true self may be hard at times because you may think that listening to yourself at that point in time is not the best thing for you. Your inner self also is a reflection of your self-expression things that you may think in your head will relate to your life in the physical world. Self-expression is a variety of different things like feelings, thoughts or even ideas. Finding your identity is all about your feelings with yourself and thoughts that someone may have about you or even you have about yourself.  

Alexander Case 

Carole Center 

ENGLISH  

9/23/2020 

Finding your True Self 

A person who is confident in themselves have found their true self. In this process it can be very challenging in many ways. A main challenge in finding your true identity is accepting where you come from as a person. Many people come from very different places in the world, and sometimes it is hard to accept that some people are born into a better situation than others. People do not choose how hard theirs parents have worked or what they have achieved in their life before you were brought in to be a part of it. Every part of the world that you grow up in you will face different challenges. When you are born you don’t choose your name. When you grow up and develop knowledge like understanding people may not like the name that they are given. Your name is one of the most important things in your life, it is what you are addressed by and one of the first things people will “judge” you on when you meet them. Religion could also be a challenge growing up. If you are growing up in a family with a religion that they have and the only one they know, you are not given much of a chance to choose what you really believe in. All these challenges effect every individual in society in their own way. Everywhere you go in society you are judged as a person. Society usually has an interpretation in their head of you based off your looks and people that you are with. If this judgmental challenge that many people face were to change, it would call for people to take out their egos and not “judge” or “identify” anyone by looks. The main challenge I see about finding your true identity would be being raised into a certain culture or religion.  

Culture and Religion bring a great identity to who you are as a person. Finding your true self is a big part of your journey to where life will take you with your identity. An example in the Lin article when it says “My name links me with my family, with the island nations that are ever more distant from my life. (Although the links can be very general: I share my last name with 8 percent of Taiwanese people.) My mother’s maiden name, Nakamura, is my sisters’ and my middle name.” This quote shows that where you are born names are going to be very common and similar to one another. Finding your true self when you may be around someone who was raised just like you can be challenging to be your own person. In the Hennick article he quotes “It’s impossible right now to know what sort of impact race will have on Nile’s sense of identity, or how it will circumscribe his ability to move through the world as he pleases.” This quote also shows that growing up as a black young man some people will look down on you because the color of your skin. He talks about not knowing what sort of impact having black skin is like in the community around him. Having colored skin could make it a huge challenge for some people in finding their true self with people looking down on them for no reason. An example could be in today’s society with the Black lives matter movement. Equality is a big problem in the United States and people growing up in this situation is something they are trying to change. 

People throughout our whole world struggle with finding their true self identity. Things that affect finding your true self would be inner motivations, self-expression, and self-definition. Finding inner motivations by finding your true self may be hard at times because you may think that listening to yourself at that point in time is not the best thing for you. Your inner self also is a reflection of your self-expression things that you may think in your head will relate to your life in the physical world. Self-expression is a variety of different things like feelings, thoughts or even ideas. Finding your identity is all about your feelings with yourself and thoughts that someone may have about you or even you have about yourself.  

Finding your true self is all about how you interpret the defintion of your true self. Self-definition of your identity is all about what you think it means and how you see yourself. Everyone sees themselves in a different way. It may take time to find who you really are or your true identity. People struggle all the time to find out who they really are because people may have more than them or come from a place of poverty. Not everyone is given the same things in life or maybe the name that they don’t want. Some things you can change, like the name you may be given. When it comes to where you are from you need to find peace of mind and your true self and work to where you want to be if you were not given it. It may take years and years to find your true self but when it does you will be happy with your life and have learned so much about yourself that you may have never known before. 

Having your name is a huge part of your life, it is with you everyday and used everyday by your friends and peers. It is your tittle that you present yourself with. In this article it says “I expected the name change to elicit instant happiness.” After reading this article I believe that no matter what your name is you are reflected by your name and what kind of culture you come from. With your name you have a choose to keep or change it if you want once you get older. People interpret your name the way they do and you will not be able to change how they think. Some people may not like the name that they’re given but you are given it to you by your parents I personally believe you should keep it because they brought you into this world.