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I believe I'm lacking in empathy?
I have an 8-year-old girl with cancer in my town apparently, and I didn't know about her at all until yesterday. She's apparently going to die in three weeks, and I can feel sorry for her and her family, but I feel it as only a superficial sorrow. Inside, it doesn't concern me, so I don't let it get to me all that much. I see myself as the only one who doesn't weep at funerals. I have been noticing progress in empathy when reading and watching fiction, though. I have noticed my heart beating faster at a climax point, and smiling when a character I care about has a good day or escapes death. This is progress in the right direction, but I would like to extend this to real people. Are there any ways I can do this? Also, how would somebody have auch little empathy?
4 Answers
- JessieLv 57 years agoFavorite Answer
We feel what we feel. Don't beat yourself up. It might be different if you watched cartoons with her or something. If you have no personal investment, you don't. Clearly you have a heart or not having empathy wouldn't have bothered you. It gets better when you don't care so much whether or not what you feel is right. Only your actions matter. We decide what we feel as much as we decide the actions of a squirrel in our backyard.
- NaguruLv 77 years ago
Verify, observe and investigate and get it confirmed with the help of all your near and dear friends and relative. They will oblige. I mean they will tell you whether your belief is correct or not.
You lack will power. Where there is a WILL, there are several ways to solve this.
Know for certain, fortunately or unfortunately, everything remains silent in Yahoo, if there is no specific question from your end.
Source(s): compiled. - ?Lv 47 years ago
I don't believe that empathy is something that people are born with rather something that is developed. If your family didn't stress empathy then you need to develop it on your own. I don't think you need to worry that you have some deep phycological defect bc your not balin for some child you have never even met. Unless you hurt people and feel no empathy I think your okay.
- Just MELv 57 years ago
You sound correct to me its hard to feel grief for someone you don't know. We can only stand back say how sad it is and hope it never happens to our loved ones.
