Nearly everyone can sustain empathy for up to ninety seconds… some of us up to two minutes before we drop grandma’s feeble head onto her hospital pillow, point to your sister and go find a television set somewhere. A smaller group of us can sustain empathy for days or weeks at a time. Mr. Rogers had a genetic abnormality that made him empathic his entire life. His life must’ve been pure hell. When you walk a mile in another man’s shoes, the best you can hope for is athlete’s foot. You cannot understand what anyone else has gone through. Personally, I’ve had it easy. I’ve just had to stay alive and time moved forward on its own… I didn’t even have to paddle. And, if you look behind you, all that crap and devastation? That’s your life. And, the lives around me pulled my life forward despite the fact that I’d have been happier staying in the womb. But, we move forward until we aren’t anymore and someone tallies up our score and the top thirty percent get to move on to the next round. Ultimately, someone’s going to get to be the great compassionate Buddha and it ISN’T going to be those other losers. I’m humbler than anyone in the history of piousness. I feel a deep deep compassion for everyone and everything that is alive. I really really REALLY do…
Okay, that’s enough… anyone know where I can find a television set?
Potatoes and the Promise of More Potatoes 
Mr. Rogers picture very well could be in the dictionary next to “Empathy” or I guess it would be what pops up on the Wikipedia page on empathy these days.
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He is empathy’s avatar!
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I read that post in less than 90 seconds. No tv for you!
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It was all I had in my queue. I’ve spent too much time working on my book…
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My empathy is my pain. And as my narcissistic partner taught me over many torturous years, no one cares what I feel. Boy, was she programmed to make me suffer! (And, yes, drain my finances as well…)
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My ex lost me our house. She kept telling me that she knew “what she was doing”. She didn’t…
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Damn.
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It just so happens that I have a TV set for sale. I was going to junk it, but I’d I rather go on a junket if you meet my price. You did intend to pay for the TV set you get, right?
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I actually own a television and am romantically-involved with it.
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Decapitation is fun
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It CAN be fun but don’t lose your head over it…
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🙂
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