To put it simply, gatekeeping is an act when someone takes it upon themselves to decide who does or does not have access or rights to a community or identity ("You can't be a real Phoebe Bridgers fan, you just discovered her. Real fans follow her since at least Stranger in the Alps.") If this sounds ridiculous to you, don't worry. You're not alone.
There's a subreddit called r/GatesOpenComeOnIn and it describes itself as the polar opposite of gatekeeping. Created in 2018, this online community collects and shares pictures of wholesome acts of kindness when people had each other's backs. Whether it's encouraging everyone to share their Spotify Wrapped or simply allowing someone to feel tired, it doesn't take much to acknowledge another person's emotions, thoughts, experiences, values, and beliefs. Continue scrolling and check out how it's done.
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Wholesome Patriotism
As you can see from the pictures, empathy goes a long way. Developing it is crucial for establishing relationships and behaving compassionately. Since empathy involves experiencing another person’s point of view, rather than just one’s own, it enables prosocial or helping behaviors that come from within, rather than being forced.
Sadly, some surveys indicate that empathy is on the decline in the United States and elsewhere. But at least these findings motivate parents, schools, and communities to support programs that help people of all ages enhance and maintain their ability to walk in each other’s shoes.
Halloween For Everyone!
Come On In And Long As You’re Nice
If God created all creatures with his infinite wisdom, why would he hate something that HE created?
Empathy really is a superpower: it helps us cooperate with others, build friendships, make moral decisions, and intervene when we see others being bullied.
Humans usually begin to show signs of empathy in infancy and the trait develops steadily through childhood and adolescence.
That being said, most people are likely to feel greater empathy for someone like themselves and may feel less empathy for those outside their family, community, ethnicity, or race.
Everybody Say Thank You To Andy
Making Your Child Happy
Minding Your Own Business Is Free
Like other traits, empathy may have evolved with a selfish motive: using others as a "social antenna" to help detect danger. From an evolutionary point of view, creating a mental model of another person's intent is critical: the arrival of an interloper, for example, could be deadly, so developing sensitivity to the signals of others could be life-saving.
Babies display an understanding that people’s actions are guided by intentions and can act on that understanding before they turn 18 months old, including trying to comfort a parent. Advanced reasoning about other people’s thoughts develops around age 5-6.
Bikinis For Boys
Gates Open Slide On In!
Read Whatever You Want
Experts say that people high in narcissism, or who have a narcissistic personality disorder, can exhibit empathy and even compassion. However, that ability only goes so far, as ultimately they prioritize their own needs.
Some researchers believe narcissists can become more empathetic by developing greater self-compassion, which can increase their own feelings of security and self-worth and enable them to open up to hearing others.
Shout Out To The Solo Eaters
Do What Makes You Happy For You
Unexpected Pet
Someone I Went To School With Posted This About Giving Their Son A Unicorn-Themed Birthday Bash. Positive Parenting For The Win
My boy loves colour pink and red. As soon as he was able to show it to me, I have made him red birthday cake and bought red or pink clothes. He also liked to play with baby doll, toy washing machine and cooking gadgets and we allowed him to play what ever he wanted. That phase has now mostly passed, but red is still his favourite colour.
"Do a thought experiment," Mark Davis, a professor of psychology who has spent decades studying empathy, said. “Imagine if humans didn’t have the capacity for empathy. What would it mean if, in fact, we never gave a damn about what happened to other people? That’s an almost an inconceivable world."
"As awful a species as we can be — and we certainly have the capacity for terrible things — we’re also capable of some pretty wonderful things, noble things, self-sacrifice."
Family Is A Family Is A Family
A while ago someone asked me if I “have a family”. I said yes and was genuinely confused when she started asking me about kids.
Southern Hospitality
Never Too Late To Join A Movement
Interestingly, the word "empathy" is relatively new. It didn’t enter the English language until the early 1900s, derived from the German word einfühlung, according to Daniel Batson, a researcher of empathy and professor emeritus at Kansas University.
Felt Like This Might Belong Here
It's The Thought That Counts
Never Too Late For New Beginnings
While some people are more naturally empathetic than others, there are easy, evidenced-based exercises that anyone can do to increase their empathy.
First, talk to new people. Trying to imagine how someone else feels is often not enough. Luckily, the solution is simple: ask them. "For me, the core of empathy is curiosity," Jodi Halpern, a psychiatrist and bioethics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies empathy, told The New York Times. "It's what is another person’s life actually like in its particulars?”
We Are All Nerds Together
I can completely relate to this. I love it when I discover that a friend that I've known for years has an in depth knowledge on a subject I never suspected.
Good Guy Owner
I love this. In Germany it is forbidden by the law to look for food in supermarket dumpsters. As long as the food doesnt pose a safety hazard, the food should be donated (which some supermarkets do, but its only a few plus they have to pay tax for the food which they are donating, so not many do this).
Hi Milly
You can start conversations with strangers or invite a colleague or neighbor you don't know well to lunch. But the trick is to go beyond small talk – ask them how they're doing and what their daily life is like.
Put away your phone and other screens when you’re having conversations, even with the people you see every day, so you can fully listen and notice their facial expressions and gestures.
Also, follow people on social media with different backgrounds than you have (different race, religion, or political persuasion).
Stress Relief
Money Is Power, But Also Not
Better Late Than Never
Dude in my graduating class (back in 1997) was 84 years old at the time of his graduation. Learn like you'll live forever, it's never too late.
Bravo! It ain’t over til it’s over. College was out of reach for me at 18, even though I was an excellent student. Then life got in the way. Plus, I was frustrated at being passed over for management jobs I could’ve done in my sleep in favor of idiots who just barely graduated but still had that college degree—-who then proceeded to totally f**k up their departments. Anyway, after the second layoff in five years, I went on unemployment for the first time in my life. But unemployment had a program called Workforce Investment. I easily jumped through all the hoops for it. Part of its benefits were grants that would pay for my Associates degree. Even though I was 51 at the time, I knew opportunity wasn’t going to knock again, so I jumped at the chance. I though college was a dream lost, but it was just a dream deferred. I now have a Master’s degree, having gone full time and graduated (at 58) at the top of my class for all my degrees (Associates, Bachelors, and Masters), so am finally qualified for those promotions I should’ve gotten all those years ago.
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Does it really help to run straight into college at age 18 and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a degree in a field when you have no idea what you want to do with your life?
I started a University course at the age of 24 after years of not knowing what to do with my life. Turns out forensics and mortuary science was my strange fascination :) If you want to learn, there is no age limit. There are even people who just stay studying university courses their entire lives! At least in the UK, anyway, as you don't pay back your debt until you earn over a certain salary a year, so you can theoretically just continue to study your entire life. :)
I took some courses for fun when I was 28, history and a brush up of my German and thought I would be the oldest person around. Most of the time I stood out. I was pregnant and the oldest and got a lot of questions until German class. My German class had the coolest 80 year old woman I have ever met taking the class for fun, just like me. You're never too old to learn, or to enjoy learning. My history prof would yell when excited, causing my son to kick up a storm. I sat in the front row, Prof paused class to ask if he was keeping my baby awake. He could see the kicking from his lectern. Lol. So, apparently you're never too young to learn either. Baby Matt paid attention during history and loves history to this day. Maybe that's why?
Age is but a number. It does not matter and you live your life at your own pace. People make fun of you, they need to slow down and recognize the beauty of the world around them.
I went to university with a woman who was 82 when she enrolled; her parents had refused to pay for her to go when she was younger (because they didn't see the point if all she was going to do was get married eventually). She'd instead gone on to be a career secretary and office manager but decided when she retired that the thing she wanted to do most was get a university degree. It's not about how fast but when's the right time for you.
I finally achieved my qualification in December 2020. I started in 2000. 1 nervous breakdown, 8 years of depression (that I still have gaps from) and suicide attempts, raised 2 wonderful children and decided to re-enrol in January 2020. Of course, a global pandemic kicked all our arses and classes were deferred. I started back again in July 2020, then got a full time job in October (that I drive an hour each way everyday to get to and from), so I switched to night classes and finally graduated in December. I could not be prouder of my long and winding 20 year journey to complete a 12 month course.
Started my 8-year undergrad at age 29 while working and raising two kids - just finished my graduate degree at age 53. It is never too late to learn and if someone tells you it is, they gave up on themselves.
That phrase, "Just run your race love; the finish line don't have an expiration date." is beautiful and I'm going to steal it ♥
You'll be the same age whether you go or not, so just go and have life the way you want it.
And your race is completely different from anyone else's, so why waste time comparing them?
I decided to make a career change, back to school and finished just before turning 50, best thing I ever did
i went and got my AA degree at 45.....wish i could continue, im now 66
Got my first bachelor's at 37, my second at 63. Heard of a woman who got her PhD at 70. Age is not an BFD.
Good for you for going back to school! Improving your English grammar will help your future job prospects.
Oh how I wish I could upvote this a hundred times this is my husband right now in school at 36 cause he was dealt a crapy hand as a kid and had to get a ged at the age of 22 starting from like grade 3
Find your time when it's best. That way you'll appreciate it and do what you do best. Sometimes life gives us a winding road.
You're going to get older whether or not you go for your goal, so just do it. It's worth the experience and you have your own pace. It's your goal, no one else's.
I had many friends during the years of the War in Vietnam that were professional students for six of seven years in order to avoid the draft. Pussies all.
When I was at school in the U.K, high school graduation wasn't actually a thing. It's just as well, because I left school at 15 and would have missed it, and I'm 64 now. The trick is, whether you leave school or not, to never stop learning.
I graduated last year with a degree to be an X-ray Tech at the age of 59!
Two college people - one in school/one graduated and both have horrible grammar. I can't get past that. Sorry, not sorry
Going back to school in my mid-thirties has been one of the best choices I've made as an adult
Oh Thank You
But don’t just stand in someone else's shoes, as the saying goes—take a walk in them. For example, consider attending someone else's church, mosque, synagogue, or other houses of worship for a few weeks while they attend yours, or visit a village in a developing country and volunteer.
If you don't have enough time for these activities, you can simply explore a new neighborhood, or strike up a conversation with a homeless person in your community.
If someone’s behavior is bothering you, think about why. Consider what it’s like to live their daily life.
Gay Pride Can Be Whatever You Want/Need It To Be
Friendly Encouragement
How Lovely
Showing Respect For One Another’s Professions
What a weird comment. Don't we all love the person that turns up at our doorstep with our eagerly awaited parcel??
Remember, you don't need to understand everything about someone to make them feel respected. Just don’t make assumptions about people based on what your life is like. The people on this list certainly haven't.
We’re all humans, and we all have a desire to connect with one another. Building our empathy, considering the perspectives of others, and opening ourselves to uncomfortable conversations can make that happen.
Witches vs. Patriarchy
Jesus Never Stutters
You Get To Decide How You Define Being "Grownup"
All Allies Welcome!
Taking Care Of Your Mental Health Is Important
We’re All In This Together
A lot of people do make it their business to decide what other people should earn, how and where they should live and why they shouldn't have universal healthcare. They're called Republicans.
Ok Zoomer
They Had Us In The First Half
I find it amazing that some Christians arrogantly think that their religion somehow “owns” marriage. People were getting together and pairing up in a variety of rituals 1000s of years before Christianity turned up.
I Love Sharing My Book Collection
Speak Everything
Learning Is Awesome
Read What You Love
You’re Doing Just Fine
This stupid meme also failed to recognise that to develop skills and side hustles we really benefit from the support of friends and family. Hanging out and chatting enables our brains to get things in to perspective, sort out what we've learnt so far, and subconsciously start to work on what is to come next.
Blake Knows What's Up
Gonna Remember Who Spoke To Me And Who Didn’t
Accept Everyone And Respect Their Decisions Y’all
Do Whatever Makes You Happy
Note: this post originally had 92 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
I think these are great but I have some reservations about the ones that say things like "Welcome all" or "Love everyone no matter what" bc I think that we should still be careful and wary of people who have shown that they are untrustworthy and will make trouble. I do think that we should give people chances to improve and guide them in the right direction but we should do so before welcoming them into places like our homes. Sure, if you don’t know someone be civil to them no matter their ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexuality, etc. and don’t judge them based on these things, but if they show that they are not someone you want to be around because they do not return your kindness, then I don’t think you should “welcome” them.
Yeah. We must love everybody no matter the origin, sex, orientation etc. But we shouldt love people who does bad to others like rapists, bigots, murderers etc. Intolerance cannot be tolerated.
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I think this series has the right attitude of positivism. I always argue for being critical with anything, but being careing for other beings and, ultimately, yourself, always is a good idea. To put this to BP: upvote early, downvote only if you really think something is wrong.
I love how people like these are around. I bet someone was having a horrid day and was scrolling through these and saw something they related to, and it made their day. Thank you for putting this and it, for sure, made my day a whole lot better. 💕
Lets make a petition to get more posts like this one. I think a lot of Pandas would sign it
I have never wanted to hug so many people all at once in my life. Darned ninjas cutting onions *wipes tearse*
This made me feel better. Things are hard right now. <3 to everyone, wherever and whoever you are.
I loved this a lot. Not only did it help me see the world in a better way, it made me feel better. Better that I can stand up for people and not look dumb. That I can stand up for others and not care :)
Most definitely agree with #32, respect the work/job. My late father used to tell anyone who was job hunting, or foolish enough to put him down for his jobs, "There's honor in any job well done, that's honest work. If you don't have a job, get one. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut and let me get back to my job!" (he was a professional baker for a large company for about 16 years, then a school janitor for three years, then a "troubleshooter" and maintenance man for the school system for another 30 years, among other jobs he'd had as a very young man). I had many jobs in my 52 years of working, some I absolutely hated, some I loved, but all of them honorable work, and I learned something from every one of them. NEVER make fun of anyone's job---especially if you aren't working yourself, but very much need to do so!
Number 11 bible says make a joyful noise unto the lord. It never says you have to be on key.
Well that made me cry ( happy cry...there's hope for humanity yet by gosh)x
Thank you. This is the best collection of panda posts I’ve read in a while. Restores my faith in humanity.
I loved this post - I wanted to upvote everyone and give all these people hugs!
Also go out to get some vitamin D, watch some trees and remember to drink water <3
Because it’s the internet and you’re being skeptical, which is okay, but probably not true. Some people just want to be nice. That’s not too hard to believe is it?
Load More Replies... I think these are great but I have some reservations about the ones that say things like "Welcome all" or "Love everyone no matter what" bc I think that we should still be careful and wary of people who have shown that they are untrustworthy and will make trouble. I do think that we should give people chances to improve and guide them in the right direction but we should do so before welcoming them into places like our homes. Sure, if you don’t know someone be civil to them no matter their ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexuality, etc. and don’t judge them based on these things, but if they show that they are not someone you want to be around because they do not return your kindness, then I don’t think you should “welcome” them.
Yeah. We must love everybody no matter the origin, sex, orientation etc. But we shouldt love people who does bad to others like rapists, bigots, murderers etc. Intolerance cannot be tolerated.
Load More Replies... I think this series has the right attitude of positivism. I always argue for being critical with anything, but being careing for other beings and, ultimately, yourself, always is a good idea. To put this to BP: upvote early, downvote only if you really think something is wrong.
I love how people like these are around. I bet someone was having a horrid day and was scrolling through these and saw something they related to, and it made their day. Thank you for putting this and it, for sure, made my day a whole lot better. 💕
Lets make a petition to get more posts like this one. I think a lot of Pandas would sign it
I have never wanted to hug so many people all at once in my life. Darned ninjas cutting onions *wipes tearse*
This made me feel better. Things are hard right now. <3 to everyone, wherever and whoever you are.
I loved this a lot. Not only did it help me see the world in a better way, it made me feel better. Better that I can stand up for people and not look dumb. That I can stand up for others and not care :)
Most definitely agree with #32, respect the work/job. My late father used to tell anyone who was job hunting, or foolish enough to put him down for his jobs, "There's honor in any job well done, that's honest work. If you don't have a job, get one. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut and let me get back to my job!" (he was a professional baker for a large company for about 16 years, then a school janitor for three years, then a "troubleshooter" and maintenance man for the school system for another 30 years, among other jobs he'd had as a very young man). I had many jobs in my 52 years of working, some I absolutely hated, some I loved, but all of them honorable work, and I learned something from every one of them. NEVER make fun of anyone's job---especially if you aren't working yourself, but very much need to do so!
Number 11 bible says make a joyful noise unto the lord. It never says you have to be on key.
Well that made me cry ( happy cry...there's hope for humanity yet by gosh)x
Thank you. This is the best collection of panda posts I’ve read in a while. Restores my faith in humanity.
I loved this post - I wanted to upvote everyone and give all these people hugs!
Also go out to get some vitamin D, watch some trees and remember to drink water <3
Because it’s the internet and you’re being skeptical, which is okay, but probably not true. Some people just want to be nice. That’s not too hard to believe is it?
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