Empathy in Relationship
This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon 2025
Empathy is an important
ingredient of any relationship. Being empathetic means being able to put
yourself in the other's shoes. It might sound so easy, but it could be so
challenging in the real world, especially when there’s always a comparison with
others.
Funnily, a set of people
exists who think their life has been full of struggles, while others are always
vacationing. They think they’ve won greater battles in their lives than others.
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| Photo by Josh Calabrese on Unsplash |
To discuss more about
empathy, I am reminded of a beautiful story that I read during my school days,
and it was one of my favorite stories.
The title of the story
was The Letter by Dhumketu. If you had been a student of the CBSE
board, you must have read it.
The protagonist was a
coachman named Ali, who was a very skilled hunter in his past. After his
daughter, Mariyam’s married a soldier and relocated to Punjab with her husband,
Ali visited the post office every morning before sunrise to get the letter from
her daughter.
Ali’s regular visit to
the post office without caring for the adverse weather made him a subject of
discussion for the postmaster and other clerks, as he never got a letter from
his daughter.
On forseeing his death,
Ali handed five gold coins to the clerk of the post office and asked him to
deliver the letter of Mariyam to his grave.
Years later, when the
Postmaster’s daughter was studying in a different city, and he had to spend
sleepless nights waiting for the letter from his daughter to know about her
well-being, he realized the pain of Ali, being separated from his daughter.
He decided to amend his
ways and hand over the letter to Ali personally, but it was too late.
The Letter is not just a
story but a scene that applies to today’s scenario too. The difference is that
the letter has been replaced by the mobile phone.
One of the viral videos
on social media showed the pain of a father's separation after his daughter was married. A lift operator was seen looking at his mobile phone, not a smartphone. When asked by the person in the lift about what he had been doing, he replied that he had been waiting for his married daughter’s call to find out about her well-being after his son-in-law had left for work.
Why do some men,
particularly married ones, feel insecure about their wives maintaining a close
bond with their fathers? Why does society expect women to distance themselves
from their families after marriage?
Just as men have parents
who raised them, their wives also have parents who did the same for them.
Marriage should be about uniting both families, not prioritizing one while
neglecting the woman’s side.
In my opinion, if someone
truly loves and respects his/her parents, he/she will respect anyone in his/her
parents’ age group, let alone in-laws. If his/her relationship with his/her
parents is not healthy, he/she needs to heal it before disrespecting anyone of
his/her parents’ age.
One never understands the
situation of others until he/she is put into the same situation. Until then,
others’ situations always appear like a piece of cake to him/her.
Life is a harsh teacher;
it will never make its lessons easier until one learns from their mistakes and
promises to never repeat them.
Let us be a little kinder
or more empathetic today by being observant of our surroundings before life
makes us experience what Ali once did, as it did with the Postmaster.
©All Rights
Reserved!
Swati Sarangi
31.10.2025
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