~sympathetic Pain Poem by Adeline Foster

this is a poem that makes you wonder does this really happen it opens my mind and makes me think

i love this poem it means so much to me i can relate to it very nice poem

Without pain we would not appreciate love. A very nice write, Adeline.

Nice, but I like my style lol what did you mean by forget yourself?

Our fellow souls must share our hearts, if love's the goal we can't apart. Lovely piece. -chuck

: -) I just read the comments by Paul. He has summarised the emotion of empathy so very well. To my mind the toughest quality to imbibe is humility & thereafter learn to be grateful to 'Him' for all that one has, that others don't. May I just say that empathy has little to do with faith (Bri's comments) - but more as a desire to be a good human being. One needs to be able to look straight into the mirror, without a feeling of guilt - each day of his/her life. Very beautifully & succinctly put forth ma'am. Loved reading every bit of it.

Sympathy and empathy although tenuously related are very different animals. Sympathy is an outer feeling a feeling of sadness but not necessarily true understanding. When you have felt loss, heart break, the loss of a child, the death of a lover or been homeless, then you can feel empathy. An inner feeling This poem encapsulates the human condition that, in some way suffering can, though a harsh teacher, help us to be kinder to others and not be so judgemental. Thanks again for teaching me how to write poetry If only I could write as well as you. Still I'll keep trying, practice may not make me perfect but it might improve me. XX : 0) Paul

i was not REALLY TRYING to be so disagreeable in my previous comment. i appreciate the qualities of sympathy and empathy, though empathy almost seems to imply that one would not feel sorry for another persons pain unless that one had experienced something similar. but that is human nature and i would not shun a person's empathy. oh! i almost forgot to thank you for your comment on my poem 'prejudiced? who me? i think i remembered the title correctly.

well adeline, i don't think i follow this EXACTLY, and i wouldn't say a person has to have experienced pain in order to show sympathy. i am now an agnostic/atheist but i had a good lutheran upbringing and IN christianity (at least sometimes) charity, and kindness were emphasized as good values to live with. i've read a few other comments here. i don't feel that all pain helps us to have useful learning experiences. sometimes it just makes a person angry, depressed, unmotivated, helpless, etc. i could gladly do without those things. of course some of those afflictions.(like my lack of motivation for many things) can occur as a result of something other than pain.

Without pain, we will never grow as person and learn from it.