This topic should really be part of my discovering hope series, but I have not taken sufficient time to ponder the topic to the point where i can discuss it fully. I think it is important for me to consider empathy as part of ones emotional arsenal, because it is human to feel pain, both physical and emotional. It is true that all pain is in our head, and it is up to the person in pain to describe the hurt. It is also important for the person listening, or treating the hurting individual to be able to "walk in the shoes of the one in pain." To do this, one has to either have experienced the kind of pain before, or vicariously understand the meaning of the experience.
Understanding pain is one thing, but helping one deal with pain is a great other. Here empathy, messes with sympathy, and these two can make a big wash in the behavior of another. I suppose the question that I am trying to deal with here is how to sympathize when I am not sure that i empathize with a situation. For example how does one deal with the death of a loved one when they have not dealt with death, or divorce, or infidelity even.
I am sure that we see these things on TV or we read about them in books, and we can live the experiences through these media, but how is it when it comes to us and our friends? I guess that it is me, I'm a lot bad at empathy, which makes me bad at compassion. Here, compassion is one way to sympathize and show solidarity with others, in a moment of weakness.
The other question is, do we have to? And the other shouldn't we.
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