Empathy (narrowly FEELING another's pain) prompts us to care deeply about a dozen Thai kids trapped in a cave...#good. Compassion (love, understanding, & concern in the face of suffering) causes us to care about them AND the tragic flooding of 1000's in Japan...#better (cont.) Empathy shines a narrow spotlight on the few, and can cause us to overreact and act short-term to relieve pain. You can't empathize with 100's or with a statistical abstraction like massive flooding. You empathize with one story at a time, and you FEEL it personally. (cont.)