Children versus wildlife.� The gorilla named�Harambe was killed to save a 4-year-old child�from his grasp at the Cincinnati Zoo.� Now, sadly, a�2-year-old boy was pulled into Seven Seas Lagoon at Walt Disney World�by an alligator.
For those unfamiliar with Walt Disney World resort near Orlando. Florida, Seven Seas Lagoon is the iconic lake in front of the Magic Kingdom (think Cinderella�s castle) theme park.� In addition to the theme park, three upscale resort hotels surround the lagoon all connected by Disney�s monorail train.
The accident happened at Disney�s five-star resort named�the Grand Floridian.� It is a massive family paradise built to mirror an uber-exclusive Victorian beach resort of Florida�s yesteryear.� The resort has a beach on Seven Seas Lagoon.
According to reports, the toddler was splashing around in the water while his parents sat nearby.� The alligator attacked the small child pulling him in to the water.� The child�s father attempted to save the child to no avail.� As of writing this post, authorities are still searching for the child.
With ruthless media outlets comes ruthless commentaries.� Scores of what I will call �super-parents� come out of the woodwork placing blame on the child�s parents.� Others blame Disney lifeguards for not keeping vigilant of the gator�s whereabouts.� Still others blame the entire Disney enterprise for allowing alligators to be in their lakes.� Stop It!!!!!!!!!
Are you shocked?� It isn�t common to hear an injury lawyer tell people to stop placing blame.� After all, I represent personal injury clients every day that have been affected by someone else�s recklessness.� But along with representing every one of my clients comes an emotion so strong that it has become my being.� Empathy.
What is empathy?��Empathy is defined�as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.� Too often human nature leads others to assume that their own feelings are what the affected person is feeling.� With the rampant use of social media, etc., people�s ability to share what they are feeling with the rest of the world is easy.� One viral post can cause an intense emotion to spread like wildfire.� These wildfires need to be put out.� The victims have their own emotions.� They don�t need yours.
Every person is their own being.� It is okay to feel sympathy for the family at Walt Disney World.� After all, sympathy is totally different from empathy.��Sympathy is�YOUR feeling of sadness for someone else�s misfortune. �Empathy is your ability to share the feelings of others.
Other than the coldest hearted of souls, everyone has sympathy for the heartbreak the family is going through.� However, in my view, in order to be empathetic, you have to caste your feelings aside and take on the feelings of the victims.� It is not easy nor is it healthy in a lot of circumstances.
Yet, when something happens to someone you do not know, empathy is the best course of action.� Keep your mouth shut.� Keep your head down.� Respect what others are going through.� For God�s sake, let their feelings enter your body.
Only then will you begin to understand the level of pain the victims are going through.� You will never match their pain, but you will be able to internalize it briefly so that you can empathize.
Cade Parian is a metro Atlanta based personal injury attorney�who represents people injured in catastrophic car accidents, trucking accidents, and defective products cases.
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