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Empathy, the art of celebrating others. 

If one finds him/herself incapable of feeling joy at someone else’s success and celebrating someone else’s success as being deserved, without thinking selfishly about him/herself and without attempting to tout his/her own success as though the success of another somehow is an attempt to trump his/hers, then he/she suffers from a pathology of the mind, spirit and esteem that fuels the inappropriate thoughts and feelings that produce the elevation of him/herself at the expense of others.  
He/She will thus exhibit symptoms of competitiveness when there is no competition, narcissistic self aggrandizement designed to steal another’s joy and falsely elevate him/herself in a moment that belongs to someone else, he/she will attempt to convince him/herself of the falsity that he/she too could have achieved the accomplishment of another if….., he/she will find him/herself feeling attacked by the other persons celebration as though it is an attempt to belittle him/her, he/she will attempt to suggest that the celebration is, “enough already,” and try to “rain on the parade” of the other person, by suggesting the accomplishment is not as grand as described and celebrating further would simply be braggadocio. 
He/She would do any and everything to convince others that the success of another is not a big deal, or try to give reason to cut short the celebration. When all these efforts fail, he/she will simply give a short platitude of a congratulatory comment, leave the celebration, exit the communication, become so silent as to appear mute, or go into a self imposed exile from communication and interaction with the person.  
Such a person needs to seek counsel to find the childhood roots of his/her pathology so as to address it and be healed and rehabilitated from it, for surely such qualities if permitted to continue throughout one’s life, is indeed a mar, a blotch, a scar that renders the bearer, ugly, ugly in the heart and in the spirit, ugly indeed.

Published by: Local Lives, Global Voices

I, Chandra Young, ‘the moon that outshines the stars, was born in Kingston Jamaica to an Indian Father whose family migrated from India, and a mulatto mother, whose family, paternally and maternally, trace their history on the island to the 17th century sale of slaves, and slaves themselves. We migrated to the United States while I was a youngster. I later went on to graduate from The City College of New York, with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science; then Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, with a Jurisdoctor degree; and I am currently on hiatus from my doctoral studies in Law and Policy at Northeastern University. After graduating from law school, I successfully sat for both the Florida and New York Bars, and worked in both the Private and Public Sectors. Simultaneously, my role as mother and my passion for education pushed me into Academia, where I have lectured at colleges in the areas of Political Science, History, Business Law, Sociology, Pluralism and Diversity, Critical Thinking, Critical Academic Reading and English Composition. In these capacities, I have mentored inner city/urban college students, and have also served as Guardian Ad Litem to the Seminole County Courts, where I advocated on behalf of children of families in crisis. Being a scholar of Political Science in my collegiate years, I contributed my talents and passions towards championing of the rights of my fellow students, many of whom, like myself, were of Immigrant families. I was instrumental in a student movement that spearheaded a University-wide student boycott protesting tuition hikes in the City University system. The successful protest led to the shutdown of all the University’s colleges in every Borough, and got the attention of the media and politicians of the day. The result of the successful protest was a halt of any tuition increase for several fiscal terms. Today, the City University and State University systems are free to families earning less that $125,000.00, which include most urban, inner-city and immigrant students. While at City College, I was selected as a student ambassador contestant in the Ms. Jamaica-USA pageant, sponsored by the Jamaica Progressive League and the Honorable Una Clarke, the first Caribbean and Jamaican born woman to be elected to the legislature of the City of New York, and mother of United States Congresswoman Yvette Clark. A diligent advocate of affordable housing for New Yorkers, I was committed to the mission of realizing the American dream of home ownership for New Yorkers and I am the recipient of a Proclamation by the City Council of the City of New York, for my efforts in that regard. My dedication to the City of New York and immigrant communities, particularly those of Caribbean heritage, have been unwavering, and I was presented with the Marcus Garvey Award of Recognition by the New York based Jamaica National Movement, for service to Jamaicans and Caribbean people in the City of New York. I continued my passion of being a part of a mission to champion the rights of underprivileged and underrepresented persons in my recent milestone, the United States Peace Corps, where I dedicated 18 months of my life, away from home and family, to the people of Jamaica, as a Literacy Adviser and Community Developer. I am the mother of two children, a writer, blogger and poet. I always loved writing. As a child, I remember finding privacy and solace to write in my garage, where I could hide the written pages amongst the plethora of books our family stored there. I began blogging on my Facebook page and was encouraged by friends who enjoyed by posts, to start a blog. I officially started this blog during my Peace Corps Service, but it is certainly not limited to my service. In fact, it represents an amalgamation of thoughts expressed and lived through the direct and vicarious experiences that being a global citizen can provide. This blog is my way of building a bridge that connects our local lives experienced in our specific localities, with the global voices that unites us in the similar experiences, concerns, pains, passions, etc that joins us together as human beings in spite of geography. You there.......Me here. We....together in one world....one humanity.

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