In general, the worst problem facing society today is that many people look upon empathy as weak, in other words, that nice guys last. If you look at some of the most successful historical figures however, such as MLK Jr., Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, FDR and many others, they were filled to the brim with empathy.
When speaking of empathy, MLK Jr. might have put it best when he said,
"Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. As long as there is poverty in the world, I will never be rich. As long as diseases are rampant, I will never be totally healthy. I'll never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be."
Why does is it actually a sign of security and strength when one is empathetic? Because it goes against the “survival of the fittest” mentality that we all have because of our evolutionary instincts. What do I mean when I say this?
Only rarely does altruism make sense in evolutionary biology. This can happen in obligate altruism, which is the permanent loss of direct fitness (with potential for indirect fitness gain) or facultative altruism, which is the temporary loss of direct fitness (with potential for indirect fitness gain followed by personal reproduction). An example of the former is when honeybees forage for the colony and an example of the latter is when a bird may help at the nest, and as a result, gain parental territory.
When one feels secure with themself, they will go out of their way to help someone else out even if it to their own detriment; they will encourage instead of discourage; they will lift people up instead of knocking them down. That is the ultimate sign of a leader—if they view service above self as his/her ultimate mission.
Speaking of service and to conclude, no one put better emphasis on the importance of service when MLK Jr. said,
“Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated love.”
