start an empathy epidemic

social justice is a moral value?

Despite the Salvation Army jinglers, Christmas is terrible for empathy. (Yes, buy hulking expensive toys for kids who already have everything and then give your spare change to the poor. [Pardon the gross generalization. I’m at fault here, too, since I also don’t give as much as I spend.])

Materialism, consumptionism, and commercialization.

The tinsel kind of makes sick to my stomach.

Right, I should start with myself.

I really should focus on this more. And to be more empathetic myself. On a smaller and more local scale, I’d like to spend less time bemoaning the fact that other people don’t understand me when I should probably be making a stronger effort to understand them. In a broader sense, I should try to go beyond simply thinking, “Oh, well that’s too bad” when I learn something that angers me and to actually DO something about it. Of course, this is so much easier said than done….

Sigh. I hate how I’m active in thought and passive in action.

What? A federal deficit, you say?

Seems to me that we’re much more lacking in empathy than in dollar signs…