From Empathy to Antipathy....

Generosity or philanthrophy is a highly misunderstood term. It is the notion of many that it simply means throwing alms in the a beggars bowl or donating money to a charity. Rarely do these novice philanthropists care what happens hence.

Well, say for instance, the cadger could go to a local toddy shop.. get drunk..and while staggering on his way to his hutment.. create a ruckus on the road.. causing a fatal accident and killing a few. Who was the cause ? The beggar, the preposterous traffic situation on most indian roads, the unassuming toddy seller or the "saint" who financed him ?

The soft hearted might be led to believe that everyone played its part, but, that is where it goes wrong. This situation demands the services of the analytical brain. Had the money not been donated.. the toddy would not have been consumed.. the senses still retained and mostly a few ill-fated souls would have lived on to meet their doom due to another similar act.

Well, the expert debaters could argue that - Someone else could have played the beggars part or The toddy seller would still be selling his stuff, the situation could have still occured. Amidst this profuse brainwork that is going on they fail to understand one simple fact or grasp the reality of it.... Atleast you would not have been the catalyst for this anticlimax.

I am asked by many of my colleagues, how can I be so cold hearted ? How can I not be beleaguered by the poverty surrounding me ? A complex answer is in the offing for this deceptively simple question...

"I know the difference between Empathy and Antipathy and anything between them"

For me a transition between these metaphorical states of human emotions happens like this

Empathetic---> Sympathetic --> Apathetic --> Antipathetic.

(Empathy - Somebody gets hurt and you feel the pain.
Sympathy - Somebody gets hurt and you feel bad about it.
Apathy - Somebody gets hurt and you are not affected.
Antipathy - Somebody gets hurt and you start dancing with joy.)

I know that I am not a messiah to feel the pang of others getting hurt, so I am not Empathetic. Nor am I so cold blooded to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the fickleness that life offers, so I am definitely not antipathetic. I do feel bad about bad things happening to people but it is the same me who doesnt give a tiddly-squat for some one who advertently or otherwise does things that harm others. For instance, I sympathize with the beggar who died on the road but I dont care a damn for the philanthrophist who could not think but two minutes in front of his nose.

With great generosity comes great responsibilties and you need not be a Peter Parker to do a good deed. A bit of common sense will do the job.

-Dead Pep