Thanks for the lovely welcome and supportive comments. Here's just an example of my son's total lack of empathy. Shortly after the first of the year I got sick and after trying Nyquil and all sorts of other OTC medications, nothing was working so my husband took me to the ER. My son called when we were at the pharmacy waiting for my prescriptions to be filled. The conversation went something like this.
Him: Hey Mom, how are you?
Me: Well not so good. I just left the ER where I was diagnosed with pneumonia and now we're at Publix waiting for my scrips to be filled.
Him: Oh wow. Hey when you get home can you take (something, I've forgotten now) to the Post office and get it in the mail? (All I wanted to was get home and go to bed!)
Me: (I probably shouldn't have said this) Your empathy and understanding are amazing.
Him: What do you mean? The first thing I said to you was how are you and that I was sorry you're sick.
Can empathy be learned? Or is it something you either have or don't have? Maybe I'm wasting my time hoping and praying for him to evolve into a caring loving person who can see that sometimes others' needs are more important or urgent than his own...
