Empathy

The word “empathy” is, in its modern incarnation, typically used when we feel bad for someone or to express a sort of sympathy. We use it to convey that we recognize and feel their pain or discomfort or sorrow.

The more complex definition of the word, though, implies that we not only sympathize—feel bad for them—and we don’t only feel bad because they feel bad—a shared understanding of loss or grief—we also understand what they’re going through from their perspective. It’s imagining how the...