Thursday May 12, 2005

Empathy

I'm empathetic. I feel what others are feeling. When I was a kid I used to cry when my siblings got in trouble. I absolutely hate watching suspense in movies or on TV it bothers me way too much. I also dislike watching shows like the Jamie Kennedy Experiment where people are put in embarrassing, uncomfortable positions. They are almost painful. I just can't watch.

I guess it is not surprising, but I realized a few years ago that books impact me the same way. When I read a piece of literature I become involved in what I am reading. So now I stop reading a book if I realize it is depressing me or putting me in a really bad mood. Occasionally I feel like I need to finish the book. For example The Book of Salt by Monique Truong made me feel isolated but I finished it anyway. But when I started reading Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee(It was this month's book club book.) I decided to stop after 80 pages. The main character is a man who does a very stupid thing at the beginning of the book. I found when I read the book I was getting mad at my husband who of course didn't even know what was happening in the book. On top of that the book was depressing me. I didn't go to the book club meeting but my friend Linda who did said that everyone agreed that it was a very powerful book that was also very depressing.

Empathy has its down sides but it also can be an asset. Because I am empathetic I am often good at bringing people together, understanding multiple points of view and developing and communicating solutions that work.