Empathy vs Sympathy

The words sympathy and empathy are often used interchangeably however, upon taking a closer look at these words, they are actually quite different. Empathy requires a person to imagine themselves in the other person's shoes. It relies more on a thought or fact versus a feeling. Sympathy is all about feeling and being sorry. By feeling sorry for someone and changing your mood based on how another person is acting, you are being sympathetic. When you are empathetic towards someone, you imagine how you would feel in their situation or you give advice and offer to help because you've been where they are before.  I know this sounds crazy but, it is possible to empathize with someone even if you haven't been in that situation. Picture this, you are walking down the hallway, halfway through the school year, and you see a new kid. You've gone to that same school since before being the new kid was awkward or embarrassing when your mom still held your hand and you had your card moved when you spoke out of turn. All the new student orientations happened months ago and all the new students and freshmen have found their groups. Yes, most people's reaction is to go "awww poor kid I feel awful for them". This would mean you are being sympathetic but, what if, instead of feeling bad you think about how awful and alone they must feel. Just take a minute and think about all of the thoughts running through their head and how overwhelmed they feel. This is empathizing and the end result most likely ends in you walking over and introducing yourself and lending a helping hand without feel sorry for them. Did you know it's also possible to feel empathetic toward a subject you don't agree with? Well it is! I don't agree with war. If there was one thing in this world I hate more than spiders, it's the constant fighting and the constant political differences around the world leading to people killing other people. I can also see why this has to take place though. By sending our troops over-seas to fight, they are protecting our nation. It's so hard to imagine having to leave my family behind, travel around the world, and go to sleep every night thinking it might be my last time to ever fall asleep because I want to. I also wouldn't want to have to kill another person. That goes against every single one of my beliefs and morals that I have been raised up on. The only reason I can empathize with these actions is because they are keeping me and you safe and protecting our rights and freedoms here as American citizens. Even though I don't agree, without these men and women fighting for us, who else would? So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, I get why they do what they do. The ability to empathize with one's surroundings is key for historians because we have to be able to look at both sides of the story, whether we like it or not, and see why certain actions where made without becoming biased, which is what happens when you sympathize with people or situations.

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