Serhan and McLaughlin’s essay on the dangers of xenophobia surrounding pandemics relate to past sources through the ideas of empathy and making connections. For example, in Serhan and McLaughlin’s essay, the idea of empathy is introduced slowly throughout the whole piece. Eunice, a prominent figure in the essay states, “When you wear a mask, it’s a symbol of solidarity to other people,It’s [a way of] saying, ‘I understand that things are scary, but here is a thing that I’m going to do to protect myself and to protect all of you”(1). Eunice holds the idea of empathy as a standard for herself by thinking of others’ safety when wearing a mask. This relates to DFW’s speech, This is Water by introducing another tactic of creating connections through empathetic thinking. DFW speaks about understanding situations not as they pertain to you, but how they affect others around you. This is seen once again in Serhan and McLaughlin’s piece when evaluating the government’s actions for Covid-19 protocols. They write, “As the coronavirus spreads, the xenophobia it foments quickly intertwines with the political conditions in the countries it touches, coloring the responses of populations and their governments”(2). The political connections to the pandemic hurt groups of people solely based on the way they looked. This does not create empathetic judgments and ways of thinking.