The Gifts of Empathy: Weâre Not Alone with What Weâre Feeling
âIn separateness lies the worldâs great misery, in compassion lies the worldâs true strength.â ~Buddha
When asked why I write fiction, I used to say, âBecause I enjoy writing and revising sentencesâ or âBecause I like practicing an art Iâll never perfectâ or âBecause I love to read.â All those reasons remain true, but my answer has changed.
The most important reason I write stories, and read them, is to practice empathy.
Strange how we often feel empathy more easily for fictional characters than for real people. One reason is that sometimes we get to know fictional characters more deeply …