By Yorkship Healthy Lion reporters | Next time you see someone who is acting out or saying something mean, ask yourself: Are they having a bad day? Is something going wrong in their life?
They may need your empathy. That means looking beyond what they are doing and trying to understand what they may be feeling.
“Someone’s behavior or words in the moment may not be a reflection or picture of who they really are,” says Dr. Ken Ginsburg, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Seeking to understand what other people are feeling is an essential part of being human, Dr. Ginsburg says. Showing empathy connects you to others.
People “are designed to care about one another,” he says. “We are all born in a way that allows us to feel what others feel.”
Dr. Ginsburg specializes in working with adolescents who are sad, distressed, or in pain. He helps them discover ways they can build on their strengths and feel better. “And the only way you can really do that is by really listening to them. And in the process of listening, you experience empathy.”
Empathy can benefit everyone, he says. “Empathy is an incredibly important thing” because it “allows us to join together and get through difficult times.”
“We’re all healers,” he says. “We all rise together, and when we rise together, we support one another. And when we support each other, we see the best in people,”
It doesn’t take a lot to help others this way. “Notice when a friend is sad or an elder in your community needs some extra support,” he says. “Show up. Smile. Or just ask, ‘Is there anything you would like to talk about?’”
Showing empathy can be hard for some people, Dr. Ginsburg notes. Some shut themselves down emotionally. Others are uneasy showing it. They actually feel a lot but pretend they don’t. They want “to avoid the discomfort,” he says.
For some young people who have had hard lives, it takes time and patience to help them feel safe enough to express their emotions, Dr. Ginsburg says. “It’s not a word or two that makes people suddenly lower their masks.”
He says that sometimes even he needs a break from caring so much about others. “It’s OK to also recharge yourself,” he says. He will take a day off. After watching TV, reading a book, taking a walk, or cuddling his dog, he is ready to listen and connect with others again.
Though showing empathy isn’t always easy, Dr. Ginsburg says it is very valuable.
“Being open to other people’s life experiences, including their pain, can hurt sometimes. That’s not always comfortable,” he says. “But it is worth it, because the people who care, who feel, who are sensitive and compassionate, make the best human beings on the planet.”
Illustration by Lasha and Dylan, 7th grade, MaST, 2025-2026.
