I imagine the issue right now could be summed up merely: folks mistake sympathy for compassion.
Sympathy is feeling dangerous for somebody and wishing they didn’t really feel so dangerous.
Sympathy is noble on the floor (“folks ought to endure much less!”) however can usually find yourself being subtly self-serving (“folks ought to endure much less as a result of I don’t wish to really feel dangerous for them anymore.”)
Compassion is much like sympathy however completely different in an essential approach.
Like sympathy, compassion begins with feeling dangerous for somebody. However as a substitute of merely wanting the individual’s struggling to go away, compassion entails somebody who’s keen to endure alongside that individual in order that they could overcome their challenges.
Sympathy is sending flowers and a card to a pal when a mother or father dies. Compassion is driving to their home and holding them as they cry.
Sympathy is letting a screaming youngster have that toy they need so that they’ll cease screaming. Compassion is letting them cry as a result of you already know they are going to be higher off as soon as they perceive that they will’t all the time get what they need.
Sympathy is altering your profile image on social media for regardless of the new trigger du jour is. Compassion is definitely giving time or cash to victims, listening to their tales, serving to them rebuild their lives.
Sympathy is an effective factor. We want it on the planet. However it’s additionally simple. It’s short-term and short-sighted. It’s an, “Aw, I really feel dangerous for him.” Sympathy is concentrated on the sensation quite than the individual. “I hope they really feel higher.”
Compassion is in regards to the individual. “I don’t simply hope they really feel higher, I hope they change into higher.” Due to this fact, compassion is extra concerned. It takes extra effort—each psychological and emotional.
Sympathy is making an attempt to take away as a lot pressure and battle as potential. Compassion is making an attempt to assist an individual transfer by a manageable quantity of battle to allow them to develop into a greater individual.
I imagine that as a tradition we’re over-optimized for sympathy and under-optimized for compassion. That is in all probability largely social media’s fault, however not fully.
Sympathy is straightforward to speak on-line. It’s additionally simple to see sympathy communicated between others. Compassion is like sarcasm, it’s not communicated effectively on-line. It’s additionally tougher to acknowledge between others.
We’re in all probability additionally over-optimized for sympathy as a result of it’s simpler to measure and examine. It’s comparatively simple to measure how good/dangerous an individual feels. It’s extremely tough to measure whether or not somebody has grown or not.