Empathy Is Actually a Choice

[Still Waters]

ONE death is a tragedy. One million is a statistic.

You've probably heard this saying before. It is thought to capture an unfortunate truth about empathy: While a single crying child or injured puppy tugs at our heartstrings, large numbers of suffering people, as in epidemics, earthquakes and genocides, do not inspire a comparable reaction.

http://www.nytimes.c...ner=rss&emc=rss

[KariW]

Great Article, Still Waters! I do believe that ultimately empathy is a choice, but sometimes it is so engrained within a person's psyche, that it is just a natural extension of a person's personality. I was thinking that the degree of empathy a person feels may be dictated by the amount of resources a person has to deal with a specific situation. On a personal level, it is easy to feel empathy for an injured animal, because we may have the resources to deal with it immediately, by taking care of the animal and tending its wounds. But in the case of mass genocide, what can a single person do? For me at least, you can try to help those individuals affected on a limited basis because your resources can't stretch to envelope the whole situation.

Still, personally, I feel just as much empathy for races, genders, etc. who have been victims of horrendous atrocities, as I do for an injured animal, and the effort I put into such causes, for lack of a better word remains the same....in that I do everything I can with my limited resources. Wow, Its just to early in the morning for me to be trying to deal with such a deep topic. LOL! Perhaps I need to think a little some more on it, after I've woken up a bit,