A Few Words on Empathy

Recently, a friend re-shared this lovely little video from 2016 illustrating a Brené Brown talk on the distinction between sympathy and empathy. To over-simplify Dr. Brown’s point, it’s not exactly the distinction we were taught in grade school—that empathy is something you feel if you’ve been there—but instead, empathy is a willingness to go there. Sympathy is something we can feel from afar; empathy is something we can offer up close.