Demonstrate the ability to approach writing as a recursive process that requires substantial revision of drafts for content, organization, and clarity (global revision), as well as editing and proofreading (local revision).
On the idea of revisions of my work I’ve made strides from the point I was previously before this semester. With me leaving this semester with pieces that were objectively better than that I was producing when I started. But to say I’m happy with this improvement is not necessarily the case. My skills for revising this semester were in my opinion lacking to say the least on my part but the lack of contrary feedback. My pacers have always held a high level of grammatical error, I’m by no means a talented or articulate writer. Most of my pieces are crude and simplistic in my opinion. This is something that I’ve come to terms with thought, so often I always want my feedback to be on my contents rather than my flow or grammatical proficiency. As these are things early rectified in post in a word processing document such as the one, I’m using to type this. That is why I was delighted to hear about the focus on global editing that this course would have. Yet sadly most feedback I received was on local revisions over global certainly helping me to write and tell my ideas. But left me feeling that my content was beginning to stray behind. With this considered my changes between drafts are primarily in the grammatical sense as follows when comparing a sentence from paper three. With the rough draft reading as follows: “With this considered a happy medium must be achieved, allowing for the proper understanding of other mentions through the relation of one’s struggles with others. But not to an extent to where you begin to surround yourself and burden yourself with their problems and or issues. A proper balance of both understanding and separation is required to have empathy be fully effective.” With this then being compared to final draft. “With this considered a happy medium must be achieved, allowing for the proper understanding of others through the relation of one’s own struggles to another. But not to an extent to where you begin to surround yourself and burden yourself with their problems and or issues. A proper balance of both understanding and separation is required to have empathy be fully effective.”.
Although these changes are necessary to make the piece better I still always feel as if my content could be consistently improving as well.
First Draft of Essay Three:
Empathy and Its Implementation
Jackson Schuyler
Understanding another’s emotions is a task that can never have a single definitive solution. People are different, their thoughts,ideals,emotions and self expression all vary. With them all being shaped by their experiences in life, with all of the actions and events that have occurred along the way going to ultimately shape the person. If you were to pluck two people from random parts of the world, say for example a man from middle class suburban America and then a person from rural Peru. Now make them look at each other then explain or try to assume what the other is feeling or thinking. You would be hard pressed to get a clear answer from either party. What one may think may be incomprehensible or absurd to another, or even the reason behind it and the emotional connections and expression. Although one may think a certain way doesnt mean youll be able to have others change their point of view or understanding to simulate it. Even though this is so complex it is still essential in all basic human interaction and relationships. To be able to understand how another is feeling is what allows all conversations and relationships to form and blossom. So without this basic understanding of emotions very little practical interactions could function or even occur. Yet what allows these things to take place?
Enter the idea of Empathy, now when one thinks of empathy one thinks of children learning the importance of understanding their classmates emotions. Learning the rhythm “Empathy, empathy put yourself in the place of me.”. Although the concept may seem juvenile and as something that’s been learned in mastered in one’s youth this is not necessarily the case. All skills can be expanded and improved even empathy, having a better understanding of others’ feelings and thoughts can greatly improve how you interact and treat others. Helping you to be able to better understand one’s struggles to give help or advice or even learn how directly or indirectly how your actions affect others. Although how does one go about improving this skill, In an article by Emma Patte she interviewed five experts on the subject of empathy and understanding and what Doctor Brene Brown said on the topic was particularly enlightening.
“I may not know what it’s like to be separated from my family at the border, but I know powerlessness and grief and rage and despair,” Brené Brown Said (Pattee,2020)
She puts forward an interesting idea of how it is next to impossible to truly put ourselves in the direct place of others. We can never truly understand or comprehend others emotions and feelings as their entire life has shaped them to act and react in that way. With the only proper method of replication and understanding to be to know their entire life. She instead suggests the idea that we have all felt similarly to what others may have felt, and the best way for ourselves to understand another’s suffering would be to use our own as a comparison. Although she does make note of a possible downside to doing this and mentions what one should avoid if they attempt to do this.
“Dr. Brown said it’s important that you don’t take on someone’s emotions to the extent that it becomes a burden, or that you co-opt their experience. “What’s the use of both of us both being in that dark place? There’s no help there,” she said. Dr. Brown uses the example of a friend calling with a marriage problem: “I have to touch in myself a place that understands that feeling, and then communicate back to you in a powerful way that you’re not alone without taking on and owning your pain.” (Pattee,2020)
Understanding another emotion is not an absorption of their pain, it’s a comprehension and acknowledgment of it with the hope of finding an ideal solution. The taking on of another’s pain and emotions can be detrimental to one’s own health this can best be demonstrated by what Leslie Jamison says in her piece on Morgellons disease “The Devils Disease” , she over the course of the paper see her health and mental state degrade as she tries and connect with those suffering of Morgellons. She enters as a skeptic as this disease has a high level of controversy around it as no doctor has ever diagnosed it, but patients claim to have symptoms, physical effects and proof. She enters and writes of what she thinks as follows as she has entered attempting to understand why this is occurring to so many.
“But my willingness to turn Morgellons into metaphor — a physical manifestation of some abstract human tendency — is dangerous. It obscures the particular and unbidden nature of the suffering in front of me. I feel how conveniently these lives could be sculpted to fit the metaphoric strictures of the essay itself.” (Jamison,2019)
So she begins to consider others and what they are experiencing more, with her hearing more stories and first hand experiences. With her then putting herself in their positions thinking of how it would affect her and how similar experiences have put her into a similar situation. With her ultimately starting to come down with the disease herself for a brief period of time. Yet the tool it has had on her mental health and outlook is arguably more harmful; she ends her essay on these thoughts.
“I want to follow humbly; I want to believe everyone. But belief isn’t the same thing as compassion, or sorrow, or pity. It wasn’t until the seventeenth century that the words pity and piety were completely distinguished. And what I feel toward this disorder is a kind of piety — an obligation to pay homage, or at least accord some reverence to these patients’ collective understanding of what makes them hurt. Maybe it’s a kind of sympathetic infection: this need to go-along-with, to nod-along-with, to agree.” (Jamison,2019)
She is able to gain a proper understanding and truly be able to articulate even in brief the struggles of others, yet at what cost. She exerts this far worse for ware worried stressed and in a condition comparable to those she was interviewing. So this raises the question of the extent that empathy should go to and if so what is too far or too short.
With this considered a happy medium must be achieved, allowing for the proper understanding of other mentions through the relation of one’s struggles with others. But not to an extent to where you begin to surround yourself and burden yourself with their problems and or issues. A proper balance of both understanding and separation is required to have empathy be fully effective. Where one is able to regulate the emotional connection to others and their suffering, being able to open themselves enough to understand and relate but not make the problem or emotion become theirs.As this will ultimately prevent them from being able to provide assistance and will find themselves in the exact position as the individual their trying to help.
Work Cited:
Pattee, Emma. “5 People Who Can Help You Strengthen Your Empathy Muscle.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Oct. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/10/04/smarter-living/5-people-who-can-help-you-strengthen-your-empathy-muscle.html?ref=oembed.
Jamison, Leslie, et al. “[Essay]: The Devil’s Bait, by Leslie Jamison: Harper’s Magazine – Part 2.” Harper’s Magazine, 9 Feb. 2019, harpers.org/archive/2013/09/the-devils-bait/2/.
Final Draft of Essay Three:
Empathy and Its Implementation
Jackson Schuyler
Understanding another’s emotions is a task that can never have a single definitive solution. People are different, their thoughts, ideals, emotions, and self-expression all vary. All being shaped by their experiences in life, with all the actions and events that have occurred along the way going to ultimately shape the person. If you were to pluck two people from random parts of the world, say for example a man from middle-class suburban America and then a person from rural Peru. Now make them look at each other than explain or try to assume what the other is feeling or thinking. You would be hard-pressed to get a clear answer from either party. What one may think may be incomprehensible or absurd to another, or even the reason behind it and the emotional connections and expression. Although one may think a certain way doesn’t mean you’ll be able to have others change their point of view or understanding to be similar. Even though this is so complex it is still essential in all basic human interactions and relationships. To be able to understand how another is feeling is what allows all conversations and relationships to form and blossom. So, without this basic understanding of emotions very little practical interactions could function or even occur. Yet what allows these things to take place?
Enter the idea of empathy, when one thinks of empathy one thinks of children learning the importance of understanding their classmate’s emotions learning the nursery rhyme “Empathy, empathy put yourself in the place of me.”. Although the concept may seem juvenile and as something that’s been mastered in one’s youth this is not necessarily the case. All skills can be expanded and improved even empathy, having a better understanding of others’ feelings and thoughts can greatly improve how you interact and treat others. Helping to make you to be able to better understand another’s struggles to give help or advice or even learn how directly or indirectly how your actions affect others. Although how does one go about improving this skill? In an article by Emma Patte she interviewed five experts about empathy and understanding and what Doctor Brene Brown said on the topic was particularly enlightening.
“I may not know what it’s like to be separated from my family at the border, but I know powerlessness and grief and rage and despair,” Brené Brown Said (Pattee,2020)
She puts forward an interesting idea of how it is next to impossible to truly put ourselves in the direct place of others. We can never truly understand or comprehend other emotions and feelings as their entire life has shaped them to act and react in that way. The only proper method of replication and understanding is to know their entire life. She instead suggests the idea that we have all felt similar to what others may have felt, and the best way for ourselves to understand another’s suffering would be to use our own as a comparison. Although she does make note of a possible downside to doing this and mentions what one should avoid if they attempt to do this.
“Dr. Brown said it’s important that you don’t take on someone’s emotions to the extent that it becomes a burden, or that you co-opt their experience. “What’s the use of both of us both being in that dark place? There’s no help there,” she said. Dr. Brown uses the example of a friend calling with a marriage problem: “I have to touch in myself a place that understands that feeling, and then communicate back to you in a powerful way that you’re not alone without taking on and owning your pain.” (Pattee,2020)
Understanding another’s emotion is not an absorption of their pain, it’s a comprehension and acknowledgment of it with the hope of finding an ideal solution. The taking on of another’s pain and emotions can be detrimental to one’s own health. This can best be demonstrated by what Leslie Jamison says in her piece on Morgellons disease “The Devil’s Bait”. She over the course of the paper see her health and mental state degrade as she tries and connect with those suffering of Morgellons. She enters as a skeptic as this disease has a high level of controversy around it as no doctor has ever diagnosed it, but patients claim to have symptoms, physical effects, and proof. She enters a meeting meant for victims of Morgellons, and writes of what she thinks as she attempts to understand why this is occurring to so many.
“But my willingness to turn Morgellons into metaphor — a physical manifestation of some abstract human tendency — is dangerous. It obscures the particular and unbidden nature of the suffering in front of me. I feel how conveniently these lives could be sculpted to fit the metaphoric strictures of the essay itself.” (Jamison,2019)
So, she begins to consider others and what they are experiencing more, with her hearing more stories and firsthand experiences, with her then putting herself in their positions thinking of how it would affect her and how similar experiences have put her into a similar situation, with her ultimately starting to thinks she’s down with the disease herself for a brief period. Yet the toll it has had on her mental health and outlook is arguably more harmful; she ends her essay on these thoughts.
“I walk among the young and healthy and I am more or less one of them. I am trying not to itch. I am trying not to take my skin for granted. But I can’t quiet the voices of those who no longer feel they belong anywhere. I spend a day in their kingdom and then leave when I please. It feels like a betrayal to come up for air….Then it starts happening, as I knew it would. After a shower, I notice small blue strands like tiny worms across my clavicle. I find what appear to be minuscule spines, little quills, tucked into the crevice of a fortune line on my palm.” (Jamison,2019)
She can gain a proper understanding and truly be able to articulate even in brief the struggles of others, yet at what cost. She exerts this far worse for wear, worried and, in a condition, comparable to those she was interviewing. So, this raises the question of the extent that empathy should go to and if so, what is too far or too short.
With this considered a happy medium must be achieved, allowing for the proper understanding of others through the relation of one’s own struggles to another . But not to an extent to where you begin to surround yourself and burden yourself with their problems and or issues. A proper balance of both understanding and separation is required to have empathy be fully effective. When one can regulate the emotional connection to others and their suffering, being able to open themselves enough to understand and relate but not make the problem or emotion become theirs. As this will ultimately prevent them from being able to aid and will find themselves in the exact position as the individual they’re trying to help.
Yet is it necessarily true that empathy can be a good and proper tool for understanding and progress, if it’s used incorrectly it can be detrimental to the user and then intended recipient of the good will. Hollow words and symbolic gestures are meaningless without sincerity and action, to simply nood your head, give a blank and broad smile and pretend you understand is ultimately useless. Effort and a sincere effort that must be made to understand others and a simple surface level understanding and level of pity is simply ill equipped to make a proper positive impact.
Work Cited:
Pattee, Emma. “5 People Who Can Help You Strengthen Your Empathy Muscle.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Oct. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/10/04/smarter-living/5-people-who-can-help-you-strengthen-your-empathy-muscle.html?ref=oembed. Jamison, Leslie, et al. “[Essay]: The Devil’s Bait, by Leslie Jamison: Harper’s Magazine – Part 2.” Harper’s Magazine, 9 Feb. 2019, harpers.org/archive/2013/09/the-devils-bait/2/.
