This year, from Aug. 17-20, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) took place. It did not occur in a host city with thousands of people in attendance, but instead, was held as a virtual convention with COVID-19 continuing to take a monumental toll on America. Various speakers made their appearances, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and many others made appearances, portraying a unified front.
Most of all, America waited for Joe Biden, former senator and vice president, to formally accept the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. As someone who watched qualified candidates endlessly battle with one another across the states in an attempt to secure the nomination earlier this year, this solidification of the Democratic ticket came as a relief. No longer would the Democratic party look like a scrambled mess compared to the Trump administration, which already had a strong backing.
In truth, I would be lying if I pretended as though I was glued to the screen for the hours in which the DNC occurred, though there were undoubtedly some highlights. Michelle Obama spoke about what the presidency entails, as well as the importance of civic duty. Former President Barack Obama spoke of Biden’s resilience, dignity and respect towards others. However, the most valuable quality that people spoke of when referring to Joe Biden was his empathy. Empathy is an essential factor of public service and authentic leadership, and it is what differentiates our current administration from the Biden-Harris campaign.
This is a word I hear thrown around often. It can become entangled with the word sympathy, though they are not the same. Sympathy is when we feel bad for someone else and what they’re experiencing. Empathy is much more deeply profound in that it requires a person to allow themselves to be vulnerable. A person has to connect with someone in pain by identifying with an experience in their own life where they have felt a similar hardship. It requires someone to actually try.
Empathy is one of the most valuable tools that I have adopted as a college student. Rather than simply feeling a sense of misfortune for fellow peers who were experiencing struggles that I couldn’t relate to, I challenged myself to truly share those feelings. I had to adopt their struggles as my own and view them as causes worth pursuing and advocating on behalf of. I had to stop questioning what other people did to deserve my kindness, and instead question how often I could freely give it away. I had to push myself to actually try. Empathy has made me a better student, and as a senior, it has prepared me to enter the world we live in today.
NC State consists of a diverse student body where many of us feel the weight of a pandemic, racial tensions, financial struggles and polarizing politics. I find that we should all urge ourselves to try harder, reach out to those we don’t know and truly confront the issues in our country head-on rather than turning away when it feels too hard. As students and as a community, we could all be more empathetic.
This was the outstanding quality that the DNC reflected, not only as a party, but in Joe Biden as a person. If given the chance, he will be the empathetic president we deserve. Joe Biden will be the leader that truly believes that every person and their individual stories matter. He will take himself to a place in which he can identify with your struggles in order to work towards a solution. He is the presidential candidate that will actually try.
In the state of our country and our world, we need this now more than ever.
