Holding Hands With Empathy

Today I'm thinking about holding hands with empathy ...

... because of Charlie.

We've known since kindergarten that Charlie would do great things.

She was the first first-grade student to compete in our spelling bee.

She was the first fifth grader to go take Algebra at the Jr. High.

But I've never been more proud of her than at this moment in time.

Her inspiring Valedictorian wisdom shined a spotlight on 

empathy and the universal language of human connection.

Here now, excerpts from her graduation speech.

Empathy isn't a grand, sweeping gesture.

It's a decision made in every day small moments

to treat the person in front of you as exactly that.

A person.

It's the intent you put into your actions

and the understanding you put into your words.

But empathy doesn't stop at the people we interact with daily.

It's about the people sitting around you right now,

the classmate you never truly got to know,

the teacher you never really thanked.

We are graduating into a world that will bombard us with

endless news headlines, comment sections, and opinions.

And I think we've all been there before,

that moment when you scroll past something and feel ... nothing.

Or a story that should break your heart ...  just doesn't. 

It happens more easily that you realize.

We live in at a time where there's limitless amounts

of information available which could be enlightening

but also an excuse. An excuse to keep scrolling,

to let the distance between yourself and someone else's suffering

become a reason not to feel for them at all.

Don't.

 

Class of 2026; we've made it.

And I don't think any of us got here alone.

We got here because someone saw us,

really saw us, 

on a day we needed it most.

A friend who stayed when we struggled.

A teacher who believed, when we wanted to give up.

A stranger who showed unexpected kindness.

That's the thing about empathy.

It's been surrounding us this entire time,

quietly holding our hand

through every hard moment,

every late night,

every time we weren't sure if we could do it. 

I hope that somewhere in everything that we

carry out of here we hold on to this, too:

The choice to see people as people.

Not headlines.

Not inconveniences.

Not strangers.

Just people.

Carrying worlds we know nothing about

and deserving the same grace we'd want for ourselves.

Empathy isn't something any lecture or textbook teaches you,

but I think the Class of 2026 already knows.

Congratulations to everyone; let's go show the world what that looks like.

Head. {Know it.}

Heart.  {Love it.}

Hands. {Do it.}

Charlie, I'm so proud of you and how

you've put our core values into action.

YOU are a hero of the charACTer KIND.

Thank you for showing us what

holding hands with empathy looks like

and for blessing those patients with your love.

I'm praying for you the best and the brightest

as your strong light leads us into the future.