Dear Persy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know when you meet someone special, and you don\u2019t realize at first just how<\/em> special?<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s how I feel about you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The more I learn of you, the more I\u2019m grateful for your influence in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You embody strength through empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You are a strong woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You have dedicated your life to empathy. I don\u2019t know you well enough to understand exactly why. I hope someday to understand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve watched as you share empathy with those who hurl cruel names in your direction. You give empathy to marginalized populations. You show empathy to individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You see<\/em> people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You have taught me how to listen. How to care. How to be unafraid of kindness. Your courage has lifted my own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ve given me permission to see strength in empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I always thought empathy was weak. Compassion and kindness were just a manipulative tool to get what you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then I saw your strength. Your example. Your empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I realized – almost in an instant – how valuable and strong and powerful empathy could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes I don\u2019t want to practice empathy. It feels like condoning things I don\u2019t agree with. And then I remember you. I remember how you look people in the eye and see them for who they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re kind and caring and firm in your boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And you embody empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your strength comes because of your empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m amazed, truly. I know it doesn\u2019t come easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hear your voice in my head often. \u201cEmpathy is a skill\u201d you always say. And it is. I know that. I\u2019m working on it myself. But it\u2019s not easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then I hear your voice again. You remind me empathy for yourself is just as important as empathy for anyone else. Be patient with yourself, you\u2019d say. You don\u2019t have to be perfect. Just take a step forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I try and learn from you as best I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is strength in empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And while I never knew it before, I know it now. And I cannot deny it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your strength is in your empathy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I am strengthened as I practice empathy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Persy, You know when you meet someone special, and you don\u2019t realize at first just how special? That\u2019s how I feel about you. The more I learn of you, the more I\u2019m grateful for your influence in my life. You embody strength through empathy. You are a strong woman. You have dedicated your life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,136],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Untitled-design-3.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5261"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5622,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5261\/revisions\/5622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}