Are We Becoming Less Empathetic and Compassionate Every Day?

These three words sympathy,empathy and compassion has been on my mind today.  I see how people react to things and situations and i wonder if we have finally lost our "sense of feel" Some see these 3 words as the same or they use it interchangeably but they are not the same,


Sympathy says i'm sorry you are in pain (it does not help anybody)

Empathy says i feel your pain. it also means putting yourself in the shoes of another.( this compels you to take action)

Compassion says i want to relieve your suffering (and that's the action)

According to a comprehensive study from the University of Michigan, we care about others 40 percent less than people in the 1980s did.

Most have turned bitter, cold and selfish  they now have the 'Its all about me mentality'
I have given this some thought and i have come to realise that hardship, too many bad news, social media, and bad experiences has made so many loose the ability to empathise.
But i think none of these should make us heartless.

So  many are ready to make jest and caricature of other peoples struggle and pain  for political, social or personal reasons.

If its not about them then it does not matter. This is the same mindset that has kept us where we are today.

Our nation would have been great if people that are or were in power  'felt what the masses were feeling'(empathy) or took actions to alleviate peoples suffering (Compassion)

People spend millions/billions building their homes and if others sleep under the bridge it is  no longer of importance.
The mentality of make the money, invest the money and keep the money for my children.

Don't get me wrong i have not said don't plan for the future but i'am of the opinion that investing in lives and things not personal to us is more satisfying

If only we can thrive to raise others just the way we our self want to rise , there wont be pain and there will so much happiness in the world today.


But in our world. One man desire to have the whole money while giving others crumbs.
These category of people never look past themselves or consider others at all.

I see a lot of 'hate comments' 'Insinuations' and comic comments on social media, and  i wonder how some people do that not minding how the other person is feeling.

Today when i passed through 'Ikeja Along Bridge' i saw a lot of  disabled children, men and women sitting under the hot sun, i was so moved but i noticed most passerby's were so familiar with the situation they no longer cared or even glance their way.

For a moment i stood there and i saw some good Nigerians dropping 10/20 Naira for them (I wonder what that will buy or the challenge it will solve. But at least they did something). By then i was asking myself if the Government is doing something about people suffering like this? They are simply too many on the street.

I want us us to always remember this quote it will help us see others differently
“Just like me, you want to be happy; just like me, you want to be free of suffering.” That recognition of common fear and yearning is the basis for compassion.

But compassion isn’t always easy. I take a fairly simple general view of compassion, which is that it is “a sensitivity to suffering with a commitment to try to alleviate and prevent that suffering.” We don’t confuse it with other positive emotions, like love, because the hardest forms of compassion are for people you don’t love. It’s also harder to be compassionate toward people who seem very dissimilar from you than toward people who are like you. These are just some of the factors that can inhibit compassion.

When we have empathy and compassion we will find it hard to be mad at people...you know why? Because we will put a lot of things into consideration and that will drive us to compassion.

For instance;

1.what the offender has gone through or what that person is going through

2. The persons level of knowledge

3. What made the person offend you. I read a post today and it says "Don't kill the man with the sword but attack the devil behind him"

4. Environment and exposure

We need to bring back our sense of feel.

We need to go beyond sympathy and start empathising and been compassionate

We have to love others just same way we wished to be loved

We have to give everybody a chance to be happy

Try give the less privilege the same opportunity you want for your own children

We don't always have to preach love, then giving our self the best while given others the 5th best not even the 2nd best.

Always Remember we are UNDER THE SAME SKY.