Empathy comes from the Greek empatheia--em (into) and pathos (feeling)--a penetration, a kind of travel. It suggests you enter another person's pain as you'd enter another country, through immigration and customs, border crossing by way of query: What grows where you are? What are the laws? What animals graze there?~Leslie Jamison (From The Empathy Exams)

Lizzie Velasquez opened her laptop on a regular day after school. Her mind couldn't fathom the horrific nature of what she discovered.  A post declared Lizzie "The Ugliest Woman In The World." Comments ranged from "You should put a bag over your head and put the world out of its misery," to "You just need to go and shoot yourself." The post had over four million views. At that point, LIzzie Valasquez was a teenager living with a genetic disease so baffling and rare, multiple doctors could not diagnose the condition. She was born at 2 lbs 10 oz. The doctors told her parents, "She'll never walk, she'll never talk. She'll be a vegetable." But LIzzie's parents said, "She's ours. We'll take her home and love her." LIzzie grew up to walk and talk and do well in school. The love and unconditional positive regard in her home became foundational to her identity.

Yet when Lizzie found the cruel post, her first reaction was to hide her face, to give up. She wanted to die. But she did something instead. She crossed the border into empathy.

She'd been bullied in school. And despite a loving home environment, she'd known the pain of being different in a world that values appearance above almost anything else. What if she stood her ground and fought back for all the other people in the world who'd suffered the assaults on their identities? She decided that she would not allow the hatred of others to define who she was. With that act of bravery, Lizzie changed her life and the lives of millions of others. As I watched the documentary of Lizzie's story, I could not get over the sweetness and bold authenticity of her voice, the strength of this young woman who's never weighted over 68 pounds. Watch it here:The Lizzie Velasquez Story You'll be inspired to emulate her brave heart. You may ask the same question of yourself: "Who and what will I let define me?"