Empathy

I have been thinking a lot about Empathy.  It can be a confusing word.  Because you might get it confused with sympathy.  I think sympathy is easy.  Anyone can feel sorry for someone else.  Everyday we feel bad for those who are somehow less than us.  We frown for those who lost, and we thank God it wasn't us.  Or we thank god.  And that is the difference between sympathy and Empathy.  When you thank God that it wasn't you you lost the Empathy game.

What would it feel like to put yourself in that person's shoes for one second.  For one nanosecond.

I really questioned our ability to Empathize when people were cheering that teen mom for killing a home intruder.  And all I could think/feel was bad for her. 
Those people cheering her will be gone when the post-traumatic stress disorder starts. 
She will not feel like a 'hero' when she can't sleep, when the sun goes down and the nightmares begin.
People said they wish they were there, or they wish they had pulled the trigger.  I don't know what to say to that.
And everyday people cheer in the street when people die.  People will always die at the hands of others.  And sometimes it's for fear or self-defense or out of hate or out of love or for the freedom of all.  But it is still death.
And it is still death.  And death is final.  And death hurts.  And it is not without consequence.

And for a second. For a nanosecond I imagined that young mothers nightmares and I feel so sad for her.  Because although she pulled that trigger for the safety of herself  and for the safety of her child, she will never again feel safe.