Empathy and Perspective

     Last week in our Foundations of Occupational Therapy class, we watched a video where the audience is taken through a hospital and shown different scenarios, and we are given a little slice of each person's life to remind us that everyone is going through struggles that we might not see. One example was a man standing by his hospital bed in a gown, and text shows up on the screen telling you that his daughter's wedding is that weekend and he is trying to be out of the hospital to be at the wedding. Another shows a man in business attire walking down a hallway looking "normal" and "healthy," but the text tells us that he is finishing up cancer treatment. A nurse is shown treating a patient, and the text lets us know that she is at the end of a 12 hour shift. The video shows the perspective of many employees, patients, and visitors at the hospital.
     This video reminded me to not just take everything I see at face value, but to remember that everyone is going through something. I think this video can be applied professionally, to remind us as future practitioners to keep in mind what our clients are going through. We can also apply the video to our personal lives, with friends and family as well as strangers.
     After watching this video, I am encouraged to be kind to others, both those I know and those I don't know. We all need to be conscious of what other people are going through, even (especially) when they are being mean or rude. Although we might automatically want to be rude back to the other person, we should consider what else might be going on in their life that might be influencing their attitude.