Empathy. Yes, other people have feelings!
Just about everyone has a challenge in their life that can make them think "no one could ever understand this, I'll always be alone because of this one thing."
And the thing is, most people dont understand what other people are dealing with, exactly. But just because someone doesn't understand 100%, that does NOT mean people cant care about others.
Some people are just better at understanding other people's problems. it's called "empathy," the ability to put yourself into someone else's shoes and imagine how they must feel. So the person may not EVER understand 100% but they find it easy to listen to people talk about their life challenge, tell them that they care about the persons problem, and maybe even help.
Most people do NOT have the "empathy" skill naturally. They have to learn it. People that were born rich, never had to wait for a thing they needed and never missed a meal tend not to have empathy for people who are poor and homeless for example. They can't put themself into a poor person's shoes and imagine not being able to afford a meal. Instead if they hear about hungry children in homeless shelters, they just shrug and say "Why dont their parents just get jobs and buy food and a house? they must just be lazy."
In this example, it takes a lot of education to get rich people to understand what poor people live with enough to get them to care. It's not impossible, but it can be hard to get rich people to understand why they even need to learn to care about other people's problems.
Empathy is a skill same as everything else humans do. Develop it, it's worth it.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-wealth-reduces-compassion/
http://www.parentingscience.com/teaching-empathy-tips.html
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304561004579137514122387446
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baHrcC8B4WM
And the thing is, most people dont understand what other people are dealing with, exactly. But just because someone doesn't understand 100%, that does NOT mean people cant care about others.
Some people are just better at understanding other people's problems. it's called "empathy," the ability to put yourself into someone else's shoes and imagine how they must feel. So the person may not EVER understand 100% but they find it easy to listen to people talk about their life challenge, tell them that they care about the persons problem, and maybe even help.
Most people do NOT have the "empathy" skill naturally. They have to learn it. People that were born rich, never had to wait for a thing they needed and never missed a meal tend not to have empathy for people who are poor and homeless for example. They can't put themself into a poor person's shoes and imagine not being able to afford a meal. Instead if they hear about hungry children in homeless shelters, they just shrug and say "Why dont their parents just get jobs and buy food and a house? they must just be lazy."
In this example, it takes a lot of education to get rich people to understand what poor people live with enough to get them to care. It's not impossible, but it can be hard to get rich people to understand why they even need to learn to care about other people's problems.
Empathy is a skill same as everything else humans do. Develop it, it's worth it.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-wealth-reduces-compassion/
http://www.parentingscience.com/teaching-empathy-tips.html
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304561004579137514122387446
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baHrcC8B4WM
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