empathy •\ˈem-pə-thē\• noun
: understanding and entering into another’s feelings
The word empathy has appeared in 283 New York Times articles in the past year, including on Feb. 16 in “Empathy’s Natural, but Nurturing It Helps,” by Jane E. Brody:
My grandson Chasen was on a first-grade bus trip when a classmate got carsick. The other children quickly moved away, mumbling words of disgust. Chasen went over, put his arm on the boy’s shoulder and asked, “Are you O.K.?”
Chasen’s teacher later commended him for showing concern for a child in distress — and rightly so, if you’ll indulge a proud grandma. Empathy, the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and recognize and respond to what that person is feeling, is an essential ingredient of a civilized society.
Lacking empathy, people act only out of self-interest, without regard for the well-being or feelings of others. The absence of empathy fosters antisocial behavior, coldblooded murder, genocide.
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