1. Empathy
By Julianna Stone

2. WHAT IS EMPATHY? Character qualities
EMPATHY is not feeling sorry for someone else; it’s when you actually understand (or try to understand) what someone else is going through. It’s when you share the feelings of another person. Sometimes it’s because you have already gone through something like what they’re going through.
Character qualities
Becoming empathetic is a huge part of your life. The way you can become empathetic is by being there for your friend in a bad situation. First, you can become empathetic by taking baby steps by practicing on your siblings or family.
The most important reason for practicing empathy in middle or high school is because you will build a stronger relationship with friends and those friends will show it back to you.
Empathy is trying to put yourself in someone else's shoes, but sympathy is giving advice to help that person in a situation.

3. People who apply empathy to their lives will help others get through tough events in their lives. People who show empathy also have a better reputation and have a better life because their friends and family members know they are there for them.

4. Research
“Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself” ~Mohsin Hamid
This is a quote that I found while I was researching, and I like it, so I would like to explain it. This quote is explaining emotions between two people who are trying to see each other from the other’s perspective. An example of empathy taking place in a scenario like this is when a team that won their sports game was gracious and did not brag about their win. They didn’t make the other team feel like losers. And the other team said, “We would have done the same thing if we would have won.”

5. Empathy can also be shown in other ways
Empathy can also be shown in other ways. One example of this is a kid who saw a little girl and asked what was wrong. She said, “My ball popped,” and he said, “That has happened to me, and it’s not the best news, but we can still go play on the playground.”
Another example is when an old woman was happy about her grandchild getting married and was dancing, and a stranger walked by and danced with her after she heard what happened and told her congrats.
Friends who show empathy to each other are great friends because when you show empathy, you understand what your friend is going through. This makes your friendship stronger because you are always there for each other.

6. Character reaction
In story I once read was a person who was mean and did cruel things. Then towards the end of the story he became nice and had friends, and he had a happy life all because of the empathy he showed others and the emotional change he experienced. This change has had an positive effect on his life and his life choices. This is how showing empathy might change your ways of thinking and the way your life is headed. And showing empathy toward others could turn around someone else's life also.

7. Personal reflections
Empathy can be shown in emotional, physical, and mental ways. When I was in goal for a soccer game, one of my teammates shot and didn’t score because she didn’t make a good shot. Anyway, I understood how sad she was because I know if I missed a shot, I’d be upset. I showed her empathy by telling her how I understood how she felt and didn't get on her case about missing the shot. This example helped me become closer with my teammate and with my team in general. That is how we work well with each other and succeed as one team.