“Empathy fuels connection; sympathy drives disconnection.”
Reflection
When I shared this video with my parents, we came to the realization that there isn’t a word in Chinese that differentiates between “empathy” and “sympathy.” This was surprising to me: in American culture, both words are common vernacular. But then it got me thinking: do people use it interchangeably? Should they? This video emphasizes that in reality, empathy and sympathy are vastly different concepts from each other. In the video, there’s a metaphor of someone feeling as if they’ve fallen into a hole. When they reach out to someone, it’s their way of saying that they’re in there and that they need help. Now, when my friends come to me with these kinds of emotions, I have a better understanding of how they’re feeling and what they need.
