Identifying that 'feeling'.

em·pa·thy - [em-puh-thee] Pronunciation Key

-the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

*dictionary.com


Countless times you witness images that have the power to affect you emotionally or mentally.
These images come in many forms, depending on what strikes you the most or what relevance it has to your lives. but there are also cases whereby it has simply nothing to do with you, but you just get so affected by the picture.

what is it, you wonder.

During late night drives, one can help but wonder about those migrant workers who's out there on the highway,either fixing the road, solving our traffic light problems, re-doing our piping systems. Dressed in their old long sleeved shirts,loose fitted pants and topped over with another layer of t-shirt. As they work their way through the dust of the drilling's,covering their faces with bandannas.

you wonder.

should there be this feeling of 'pity' or simply,a soft side that just ponders about that man's life.
or should it just be a picture of a man, who is out there surviving his life expenses through this job. Should there be a line when it comes to empathy? Do we really know how this 'feeling' is sparked up within us?



Think of the cleaning lady you come across at your workplace, school,streets or shopping malls.
Do you ever look at them to acknowledge their presence..?
..or do you persist your 'activities' as you step all over the freshly mopped floors?
should there be this 'feeling', when all that woman is doing is earning her wages through that job.
When her job is merely another form of occupation people subscribe to within the society.

The fact is, there are many level of 'jobs' that can be offered to people. Evidently, we can't expect these so-called jobs to be on equal grounds, in terms of salary,treatment, environment or perceptions.

There should be a better alternative view point in this. Whereby it is simply seen as a whole large system which functions the way it does. People attending to their own activities in their own context. Perhaps "pity" has too much of a negative connotation to it.

What is pity anyway?

Do u so-called develop this 'feeling' towards a person just because he/she lacks something of something that you have. Or because he/she is inferior to what you are?
The idea of standards and indifference should be eliminated from our thoughts. Of course it is impossible to abolish these perceptions in our heads. It's probably because we are living in this huge ball of materialistic individuals, whereby categorization is an important factor to determine where one stands.
Its naive to challenge that thought unless if you're willing to go off to an island and just live alone, or build your own little empire, if you wish.
Otherwise..

..perhaps the simplest action could be done, simply by realizing the fact that they are no different from what you are. Thus, there should be no 'special' treatment towards them or worst still, ignorance.
these so-called distinctions will dissolve when you begin to acknowledge that we are all only human beings, after all.
Why can't we highlight this similarity instead?