Recently, my hometown has made headlines. An unarmed, 17-year-old black boy was shot and killed at a traffic stop. Last night, protesters overtook the parkway leading into Pittsburgh. Their tears and anger brought out the best and worst in people.

Social media become filled with people showing their support for the protesters. For the first time, I think the "locals" saw the firsthand reality of police brutality, and they were not okay with it. The hurt and pain of losing a son hit them hard, and the loss of innocence life was unforgivable.

Other people took to social media to justify the death. They didn't feel the loss of a child, of a young mind, or even the loss of a life. To them it was just a reason for people to protest.

The second group of people lack empathy, or the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. It is the most important emotion we have, one that takes a lot of self control and will to have. Mothers are the key to empathy, I think I have learned the emotion best from my mother. She is able to take a step back, and put herself into another shoes. Though she is not perfect, she is the person who I can turn to for help seeing a situation from a different perspective.

We feel empathy when we watch things like romantic comedies. We empathize with the heartbroken girl, we are feeling her emotions while we binge eat ice cream. We feel we are living in their world.

So, why can't we do that all the time? Why don't we empathize with the protesters, with immigrants, with those who do not live our lives? I don't have an answer for that, but I do think we need to try. We tell our kids to not judge a book by it's cover, so why can't we walk a mile in someones shoes? That one I do have an answer for.

We are not open enough. To anything really. We are naturally judgmental and self-serving. We want our own interests to be places above others.

We are selfish. It's why we connect so hard to romantic comedies; we have all been heartbroken. We have all felt like an outcast. But, have we all been victimized? Yes, we have, but not in the way Antwon Rose was.

We have not all felt the grief of marginalized communities.

So, how can we show empathy? We can listen, and we can learn. We can help. We can advocate for change. We can try to understand.

We can do it for people in romantic comedies. So why can't we do it for change?