Soft skills are the traits that people have that help them get along and express empathy to others. The skills used to interact with people and to generally not be rude to the people around you. The way people approach others today is from an ego-centric standpoint, and people tend to act more for self interest than considering how it affects other people.

 In simpler terms, I believe our empathy and basic respect for others is dying out. It is now common to see the lack of respect for strangers and their experiences in public. There are people watching their videos at full volume with no headphones in restaurants, recording othersin public for their Tik Tok accounts or people shouting in libraries. That basic lack of empathy has been around for years. This doesn’t stop at being annoying in public, this also covers the people who refused to wear masks or ignored all of the protests in the past years. A 2010 study shows that Americans are 40% less empathetic than they were in the 1990s to 1980s.

For example, earlier this month, I attended a Dropkick Murphys concert in Atlanta. And for anyone who has been to a pop-punk concert, you know that the people attending are usually the nicest people you will meet: they will make sure you’re safe and comfortable, keeping you safe from the mosh pit if you fall or want to avoid it. And when I attended, it was no different. But there was one man who kept shoving this mom and her kid, standing directly in front of me and shoving me. And it then clicked in my head, we are losing our empathy and soft skills. 

The lack of empathy people have towards the different, the sick, the disabled and the old is concerning. It truthfully makes me worry about the future. How can it be so easy for people to be disrespectful and apathetic to people who are just trying to live the same as you? 

So what can we do? Not much. All you can really do is be the good that the people need. Be that kind and empathetic person, feel for people. Sometimes, being kind is all you can really do.