Logic and Empathy

Two Sides of True Intelligence

At a time in my life, I tried to distance myself from being seen as emotional. I had internalised the idea that emotion was a flaw, so I made it my mission to prove that I could think beyond emotion and also dismiss it. That I was rational, calculated, and logical.

And for a while, being called “logical” felt like a badge of honour. It made me feel smarter and more capable. But in chasing that label, I began to lose the balance between logic and emotion. I found myself questioning why anyone would respond emotionally before viewing a situation objectively. I forgot that emotion, too, is a form of intelligence.

Let me be clear, it is both important and necessary to be logical and reasonable. But emotional intelligence and empathy are just as important and necessary. Because I can be right, and still be wrong. I can win the argument and lose the person.

So I began to learn to discern when to be soft and when to be stern. How to be philosophical and still remain empathetic. When to cry with someone and say nothing at all. Because it’s true that no one cares how logical I am if they cannot trust how much I care for them. If my emotional intelligence is absent, my logic becomes sterile.

Empathy is not weakness, and logic is not coldness. But either one in isolation can make me a danger to my immediate community.

And then at age twenty, when people said, “She behaves like a mother,” as I had often been told, I finally received it as a compliment. Because while mothers differ, I watched my own mother handle life with reason and clarity, yet never once lose her sensibility, her emotional intelligence, or her empathy. She was and still is an empathetic leader.

That is the balance I now honour. That is the woman I am becoming.

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