I keep hearing that these are different things and that this is very important. But if you have empathy, then de facto you also have sympathy. But if you sympathy, you do not necessarily have empathy. Supposedly this is a terrible thing – to have sympathy but not empathy. Sympathy is apparently empathy’s poorer cousin from the slum on the other side of the tracks. Or it’s like Rodney Dangerfield, and it gets no respect.
I suppose it would be best to both sympathy and empathy, but from what I can see if the world, way too many people don’t have either, and that’s the main problem here.
I would say to someone who had sympathy but not empathy, “Good for you, you care about others, excellent.” I am a little bit confused at why in a world full of human snakes, we all must be angels or be deemed evil if we do not measure to standards of rectitude.
