EMPATHY

A post of two dogs scrambling in a vet's office to reach the food bowls made me laugh and at the same time feel sympathy for the Labrador who couldn't get its feet under him on the shiny floor and spread-eagled itself and slide into the first food bowl, face-planted in the kibble, and then did the same thing into the next bowl. I laughed as I watched. So often, I see something in the cat and dog videos that flood the internet that brings up two conflicting emotions at the same time. Many of the videos are the natural antics of these two favorite pets, and I smile. Others show people creating a scene for a laugh.

 It's hard for me these days to find something funny. I think that is true of the internet posters. They are trying to create a space where we can also have an amusing moment. Yet, I ask myself, what part of us brings out our enjoyment of watching someone or an animal flounder? On a bigger scale, what part of us wants to save the planet, yet can ignore the struggles of people who live on it? Elon Musk once said that, though he believes that you should care about humanity, empathy is destroying Western civilization. He went on to blame the Democrats for their empathetic actions toward immigrants and to create DOGE, firing thousands of people.

We seem to be living and accepting the cruel world we humans have created. I looked up the definition of compassion, which comes from the Latin word compati, which means to suffer together. On one hand, we can laugh at others and watch passively as families are torn apart. Yet, we are also capable of great compassion. We stand up for people or animals, save them from burning buildings or floods, or provide comfort/food/housing at their loss. We are a group filled with contrasting ideas all at once.

I grew up going to church. In college, I studied the world's religions. The best lessons I learned were three ideas that can be found in the teachings of religions all over the world:

Be Kind

Love One Another

Do to Others What You Would Want Them to Do to You.

Those ideas ring true to me. I don't have to attend church to live by them. I have learned that it is important when I listen to a well-known person that I ask myself if they practice those ideas when they exhort people to follow their lead. Do they aspire to be good? Or do they lean towards their darker side and lack empathy towards others?

"A New World Where Kindness Matters"

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Elon Musk's discussion with Joe Rogan about empathy:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/05/politics/elon-musk-rogan-interview-empathy-doge