Thoughts to Share from FutureSense

Listen. Reflect. Learn. Stand. Act. 

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.  

Understanding gives us the opportunity to perceive the significance, explanation, or cause of something.

I, for one, need to do more to be truly empathetic.  

Today, I am fully committing towards working harder in the hopes that, in the future, I can say:

I Listened. I truly heard.  I was quiet and heard the voices of others.  No hashtags, no statements about me, or us.  I just listened. 

I Reflected. I took the time to think and feel; I considered others through a lens that I could never in a thousand years have walked a mile much less a step in their shoes.  I cried, I grieved, I experienced emotion.  

I Learned. I gained insight and wisdom without being judged or being judgmental. I had a hunger to learn more.  I sought out facts;  I curated those facts.  I considered the wisdom of others who can write and speak on these matters far better than I can.  

I Stood.  I stood up for what I believe in.  I am Anti-Racist; I am Pro-Human Rights;  I am Anti-Violence;  I am Pro-Discourse;  I am Anti-Poverty;  I am Pro-Inclusion.  I stand for dramatic and important change.  

I Acted.  I will have done something in my own way to affect that change. I will speak on behalf of myself and not try to represent everyone’s point of view -  some of whom might differ in whole or in part from mine.   

“I am only one, but still I am one;  I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.  And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” 
Edward Everett Hale

These are all challenges that may never be ending.  These are lifelong, eternal practices.  

What will you do?  

Jim Finkelstein, President and CEO, FutureSense, LLC