When did the world lose empathy?

I think people have forgotten that as little as "I understand why your situation sucks, and I empathize" goes a huge way to making someone feel validated.

I've been putting Fluff to work the last couple days (sry Fluff ) and I know that he and the other mods are bound by the rules and regulations of BP and really even if they agreed with any or everything I say they couldn't change much. At the same time all I've been looking for is some tiny amount of sympathy for the fact that I feel like I'm getting the 9s for almost nothing.

Does it really take a specialized course to show that offering a little understanding to someone's plight, even when they are in the wrong and there is nothing that can be done about it, goes a long way to curbing one's sense of frustration?

And lets be clear, there is a huge difference between being 'sorry you feel that way' and 'sorry for the way you feel'. One is resentment that a person dared to offer a differing view, and the other is empathy.

Where's the love guys?

 

<HUG>

 

<3

 

Touche. We all tend to get wrapped up in our own frustrations and forget the other guy's frustration that is the flip side of that same coin.

There are a lot of things I cannot change, but I can still identify with the frustration of someone else without taking an attitude of "tough cookies".