| I'd say if you rolled the clock back a few hundred years, or even just to post-WW2 (50's/60's/70's) rural America, you would find that there would be a lot of people who would effectively function as empaths to the people around them (family and community). Industrialization, urban development, crony-capitalism/corporatism, profit-motive (usually involving exploitation), greed, disconnection/breakdown of communities, and dare I say it, even technology (when misused), push people further and further away from one another. How can you (the average person) be an empath when you have bills to pay and are locked to a 9-5 including a (usually anti-social) commute via car/bus/train/etc., spend the first 18-20 couple years of your life studying in a place that loads you in confined spaces with people who probably don't want to be there and teachers who don't get paid enough, and you most likely live in a place that you (or your parents) don't own; that probably doesn't have a proper yard (with no privacy), you get minimal sunlight/outdoor time, and your place of living probably has poor sound isolation between units if you (or your parents) rent something other than a house. Socialization and time is measured and controlled in school and in the workplace, and when you have down-time, how can you worry about somebody who has problems that you probably can't solve because 1) they are not a part of your community, 2) you lack the time, resources, or ability to help, and 3) you have enough problems of your own to solve. In school, sports, and in most workplaces, you're taught and conditioned to compete (outperform others). This is a sink-or-swim, fragmented, and cruel world for the average person. You can't worry about John's debt, or Joe's medical problems that they can't get fixed because they can't afford it/don't have insurance. You can't help somebody with their house or yard. So where does community usually reside nowadays? Only in very niche circles and activities, usually non-competitive hobbies. Definitely not the classroom or workplace, probably not your neighborhood/apartment complex, the bar, or most other common gathering spots for people. People don't smile to strangers. Nobody waves. Sure, people ask you how you're doing if they're directly interacting with you through the course of business, but any answer other than "I'm doing good" is usually met with indifference. Most self-proclaimed/actual empaths nowadays, are people with a rare personality type and/or they are people who are heavily traumatized and truly understand the depths of pain/suffering/loneliness/etc. The fact that another commenter is interpreting the person you're responding to as joking/memeing, highlights just how rare/unheard of such a way of being is to fathom in the modern world. And developing in such a way that you become an empath is indeed usually an anomaly/maladaptive for your own "success" in the grand scheme of things. |