how do you 'feel'

Are you sympathetic or empathetic?

Do you sympathize with people or empathize for them?

Sympathy or empathy?

Empathy is understanding how others feel. You don't have to care about their predicament or feel sympathy for them to understand their plight. 
Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone else. Empathy would help you feel sympathy, but you may not understand their feelings.

Sympathy is feeling compassion, sorrow, or pity for the hardships that another person encounters, while empathy is putting yourself in the shoes of another.

I stopped watching the news for many reasons. But the catalyst was the day I read a couple stories in the paper...one was about a child who died in a hot car after his parent had forgotten about him. All I could think about was his pain and fear. No one heard his screams and crying. He was completely alone, left to die. OMG! 

The other was one of those sidebar dog rescue stories. Here was dog, laying 1/2 off a curb, clearly starving and dying, while people just walked by. A rescue group came by and when they approached the dog, he slowly, with all his might, wagged his tail. Just the thought of human kindness, even in his misery, made him happy. OMG! 

By the time I finished that story, I was in tears. Actually sobbing. I felt awful. 

The next day, Saturday, I told my fella I had to take a drive. Somewhere out in the boonies where there weren't any people and just stream music in the car so I didn't' have to hear the news or commercials. I felt like I really just needed a minute to detach from the world. We had a lovely day. And for the rest of the weekend, we listened to music and watched a couple really cheesy movies. It was good. 

Since then I've stayed away from TV news almost completely. After a couple weeks, I started looking at headlines, online. Sometimes I'll read an article. I've had to stop doing that again. It's too heartbreaking. I can't take it. I finally figured out why...I have empathy. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be daunting.

Indiana

At work, I have commandeered all the bulletin boards in the main hall. There are 4 of them, each one is 3 ft. x 4 ft. Previously, they were filled with stupid crap that nobody cared about or grade school decorations. It drove me nuts! 
Now, one of the of the boards has actual, useful information on it. Things like, big events downtown that are going to effect traffic when you leave; how your time off is accrued; birthdays this month; things that are happening this month; retirement notices; the cafeteria menu this week, State holidays, etc. 
One board is filled with "company" information. Things like, who to contact for what, in HR; the mission statement; pertinent information about specific departments. 
One board is filled with numbers...metrics, quality, and shout outs to staff that have met their goals. 
The 4th one, I had removed. I replaced it with a smaller cork board and a white board. On the white board, I write positive messages. You know how I am :-) This month though, I've been putting things about Indiana on it. Like Indiana trivia. There are A LOT of things people didn't know! 
For instance;
The first train robbery in the nation, happened here.
Indiana is home to the first "theme park" in the country.
Colonel Sanders was actually from Indiana.
The last concert Elvis performed was in Indianapolis.
Raggedy Ann dolls were created by woman in Indiana.
Van Camp pork and beans was created by Indianapolis grocer, Gilbert Van Camp.
The very first professional baseball game was played here, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
14 State Capitols, the Empire State bldg, Rockefeller Center, the Pentagon and many others, were built with Indiana limestone.
The Coca Cola bottle was designed by a glass company in Indiana.
The inventor of the first real gasoline pump was Syvanus F. Bower, from Indiana.
Lewis and Clark started their expedition from Fort Vincennes, which later became part of the state of Indiana. 
It turns out, there IS more than corn in Indiana!!