Sympathy of Empathy

The siren was screaming its heart out, but no one seems to care.

That’s what I think when I tried to pull my car over to let the ambulance to pass.

It wasn’t an easy task, the road is so jammed.

What I want to highlight here is that it seems like nobody care about the ambulance, they just won’t let it pass.

I will not pretend that I understand the feeling of the sick patient, or the desperation of patient’s family member, cos I don’t feel anything. So am I an evil person? I admit that I don’t feel the urgency of the patient in ambulance, whom I don’t know personally. He/She simply a stranger for me. I pull over cos I think it is the right thing to do. And always think if I were in their shoes, I’d expect people to pullover.

Last week, I was trying to get a flight to attend a family emergency. The flight was delayed, and after hours of waiting it was then cancelled. At that moment, I was very desperate, feeling very hopeless. I couldn’t understand how can that staffs offering me some complimentary food while all I need is to get to my family ASAP. They are talking to me as if they are reading from a manual. Until I screamed in desperation (and in English) they started to give me attention & get me another flight.

I am very thankful that at least one of them tried very hard to get me to another plane. Very nice of him. But I can’t blame the rest of the staff either; it is not their duty to know how I feel, I am a mere customer and they simply doing their job. But why am I so upset that they are not showing a slight empathy for my despair?

Is it compulsory to have empathy to others? Cos I’d be lying if I said I know the feeling of someone who just lost their dear one, or who just lose their jobs, or in any desperate moments. Not that I never been in the situation before, I have; Not that I unaware of their anxieties, I do. I could shed a tear, I usually do, it still doesn’t match the grief and sorrow that they are having. But honestly, I can’t feel someone else’s pain, just like others can’t feel mine. But I will try to show sincere sympathy which come from the bottom of my heart. I mean it.