Empathy doesn't come naturally to everyone. I am one of those people.
When someone is in pain, or has suffered a loss, or has something great happen to them, I can't say that I really feel it. I understand that something 'good' or 'bad' has happened, but I'm not giddy with excitement nor wrought with pain.
These feelings (or lack thereof) are from my interactions with friends and family. I am even more desensitized to intangible disasters or fortunes. Out of sight, out of mind...
Conflict. Not necessarily out of mind, completely. I know that I should feel bad, or be happy for these real events that happen to real people, but it just doesn't come naturally. I want to hurt for them, and to celebrate with them. I do sometimes, but it takes an effort.
I don't believe that my lack of natural empathy is reason not to feel other people's feelings. It is reason to work harder toward understand, to care, to love. Empathy is about sharing. It's about getting out of our own little world, looking past our own interests and concerns, and making an effort to know someone else.
Love is empathetic. Love doesn't invest, love gives.
Actively caring for someone else, and sharing someone else's life is perhaps the most important things we can do. Jesus called it 'being a neighbor'.
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"There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved. It is the finger of God on our shoulder." ~Charles Morgan
Read this quote this am. Good blog.
I was facebook creepin' on your page and noticed your blogspot. :) This is a great entry. Empathy is nothing without action, though. I consider myself an empathetic person, a compassionate person. But do I do anything about another's pain? About another's joy? Not necessarily. I can "feel" all I want, but it doesn't make me a good neighbor.
True. I completely agree with you. But it's a start. Maybe to be more empathetic, you have to act out what you know to be right, and the feelings will follow.
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