[Intro music]
Reactions to suffering.
Suffering. We can't avoid it.
No matter how hard we try.
Between the poor, homeless, and sick,
Suffering is all around us.
We like to think we take it in strides,
But how do we really react to it?
If you saw an older man shivering on the curb,
with only a thin blanket and old clothing,
You'd most likely feel bad,
But you'd keep walking.
We all feel the pain of seeing this older gentleman
look as though he might not make the night,
but seldom stop and do anything.
Our reactions are what make us who we are,
both individually and as a species.
Naturally, mankind is sympathetic to the pain
and suffering of others.
Psychologist Edward Tichiner
translated the German word, "Einfuhlung",
meaning "feeling into" into English in 1909,
turning into the word most of us know today, as empathy.
However, feeling bad for somebody is not empathy,
despite what most people think.
The feelings we get are in stead a mixture of other emotions.
What's the break down in some of these emotions?
Pity is often distress, discomfort,
and overall, sadness
when witnessing someone else's misery.
If you were to see someone yelling at their significant other,
you will most likely feel sad for them
and look on a few seconds before moving on.
Pity, is the acknowledgement of another's pain
and then you feel bad for them,
but pity does not go beyond this.
Like bait is another example of pity,
of someone online post a photo or a video
to make their viewers feel bad,
and at the end said:
"Like, repost, reblog, retweet, share,
if you understand ex's pain and want to help."
Of course, a like won't help their suffering.
It's just helping the poster
by giving them likes on something they posted.
Sympathy, is the physical display of pity
and hoping that the person
will be relieved of that pain or suffering.
It is caring about the well-being of somebody
without personally knowing the struggle.
You try to understand by putting yourself in their shoes.
Empathy, is both caring and personally knowing the struggle
of the other person's going through.
Remember, personally knowing is not always paired with caring,
which means it is not true empathy.
This is evident in psychopaths.
You have to have personal experience and care
in order to empathize.
Compassion, is either empathy or sympathy,
paired with a desire to relieve that person of their pain.
With compassion, you actively seek a solution.
You do something with your sympathy or empathy
rather than just walking away.
It must be noted that "altruism" is very different
from empathy, sympathy, pity, and compassion.
When someone acts altruistically,
they're acting on a basis that is the right thing to do,
not because they feel bad.
Altruism can be detached and emotionless,
as it is not buried in personal emotions,
only in doing the perceived right thing.
One way that altruism can backfire
is being ignorant of pain,
not understanding the problem, but trying to fix it anyway.
The good example of this
is replacing a child's old broken toy
that holds memories
because you believe that is a right thing to do.
However, by replacing this toy,
you're tossing out all the memories
they have attached to that toy.
So, if you were to see that same old man shivering,
what would your reaction be?
Pity?
Sympathy?
Empathy?
Would you give him a another blanket
out of altruism,
or out of compassion?
Write your answers below!
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