This topic has been on my mind for some time. It feels like we can’t say anything about Coronavirus (COVID-19) without it being politicized. If we say something “against” the other side, we drive them further into their trenches. If we say something “for” the other side, we admit defeat. This virus has been highly politicized, and as a population, we’ve been polarized by the politicization of it.

We’ve been polarized by the politicization of it.

This is so unfortunate. There are very real health threats and effects that come with this virus. There are also very real socioeconomic threats and effects. These threats, along with the polarization has brought us all to a point of crisis. The anxiety we feel about the economy and our ability to provide for ourselves and our families is real. The anxiety we feel about our health and the health of our loved ones is real as well. The anxiety we feel when somebody doesn’t stand 6 ft (2 meters) away is just as real. We’re all working through some pretty tough stuff, but if we’re going to pull through this, we’re going to need to do it together.

Life has become much more stressful for almost all of us. When you’re out grocery shopping, you can almost feel the anxiety. Everybody wants everybody else to stay 6 ft (2 meters) away from them. The other day somebody was standing too close to somebody else in line at the grocery store, and that person turned around and said, “I can literally feel you breathing on me, back up!” We see it everywhere, we can feel it everywhere. People rarely go out for pleasure, and are limiting their exposure. It’s understandable, it’s even advised by health professionals. But almost all of our social interaction with strangers is within the context of some stressful chore that we need to fulfill.

Wherever you get your news from, there’s bound to be stories that confirm your bias around whether the measures that we’ve taken and continue to take are valid. Leadership at all levels continue to politicize actions taken by individuals and groups, even when those actions are taken with the best of intentions. When we come in contact with somebody who doesn’t share our views, they get flamed – that is we light them up on social media through comments and less-than-civil dialogue.

The thing is that if we’re going to pull through this and come out the other side NOT completely divided, we’re going to need to be deliberate about pulling together. The traps have been set – the media stories and comments from leadership are placed. All we have to do is reach. Messages intended to polarize us are doing exactly what they’re designed to do. Our filter bubbles continue to feed our biases. We make a comment and we immediately send somebody deeper into their trenches, furthering the divide. If we’re going to pull through this, we’re going to need to practice empathy and personal responsibility.

If we’re going to pull through this, we’re going to need to practice empathy and personal responsibility.

When I say personal responsibility, I mean not immediately flaming somebody for having an opinion in opposition to yours. When I say personal responsibility, I mean adhering to reasonable health guidelines put out by health professionals. There are “health professionals” at both ends of the spectrum. Knowing what to do to be safe and to help keep people working does invoke a level of anxiety for many. We can either allow that anxiety to further separate us, we can can practice empathy to pull through this together. Even if we don’t have the “same” understanding, we can have a common understanding. We can disagree about things and still make progress. We do this by practicing empathy.

We can disagree about things and still make progress.

Empathy is being able to feel and understand the experience of another person without actually having gone through that same experience. While sympathy means that you have experienced similar experiences so you literally understand what they’re going through, empathy is being able to understand the experiences of another person. While we share the experience of going through Coronavirus (COVID-19) together, we each have different experiences that necessitate empathy.

Practicing empathy is more natural for some than for others. Practicing empathy helps strengthen and add meaning to relationships. It helps establish new, meaningful relationships. It also helps relationships from turning south. While we may not be in a “relationship” in the traditional sense with everybody we come in contact with, we are all in a relationship of sorts in that we are all experiencing the current situation together.

Practicing empathy will help us to not lash out at each other when somebody does or says things that we don’t agree with. Empathy also helps us to make decisions that won’t prompt others to lash out. Empathy is a 2-way street. By acting responsibly and practicing empathy, we can reduce the animosity and anxiety that we’re all feeling, and we can pull through this together. We can fight against the polarization, and can come together to be stronger together.

I want to wrap up by saying that this is a hard time for everybody for an endless number of reasons that only we understand individually. If we’re going to pull through not only this virus (regardless of how real somebody thinks it is), but the fallout that is coming with it (socioeconomic, health, and emotional), we’re going to need to do it together. To do that, we’re going to need to act with responsibility, but more importantly, we’re going to need to practice empathy and love for the people around us.

Whether those people are in the store, on the road, or in our families. We are stronger together.