Empathy Vs. Compassion Vs. Sympathy

We came to this world alone and it is part of our nature to search for some way to identify with others. Human interaction is the basis of how our society works. Being able to share with others our thoughts and emotions justifies the social norms. Human beings are social animals, and we are more powerful collaborating with one another.

Humans are able to feel like they are connected with another human through putting themselves in the position of the other person. We are able to "project...personality into the object of contemplation"(401) and pretend that we were them.

A mother of a baby cannot know exactly what the baby is feeling, but she is able to imagine it. Therefore, she has to hone in on her intuition and empathy to meet the baby's needs.

This reading reminded me of the way non profit organizations always have causes that are not directly impacting the people who volunteer. This shows that they are empathetic, and can imagine what those in need are feeling. Take the natural disaster that hit Haiti, we were not directly effected with this Earthquake, but so many compassionate people went out of their way to help out. This is a wonderful characteristic of the human species. Having empathy, compassion , and sympathy is essential to what it means to be human. Everything we do on a daily basis has "emotional notes and chords that weave through [our] words and actions." Without these emotional clues, we would probably go throughout our day apathetic and robotic.

After reading this I felt happy because it is very incredible how communal a group of individuals are

My favorite quote from this reading was, "if one values the life of a being who can enjoy life, then one must value every life of like beings in the same way."