Maybe in her personal circle. I feel that there has always been plenty of empathy and there have always been apathetic people too. As humans, it is normal to pick through and only emphasize the bad for some people and only the good for others. The truth is, we are not getting morally indifferent due to the changes in society. For many, things are getting better. For some, things do seem worse. For most, it's about the same as always. Let me explain:

If you were a young white person in the 50's, your sheltered life may have offered little transgression, but if you looked at your father, you would see high stress and ulcers in many cases. Your mom may have been oppressed. The influence of a varied cultural background would have been deficient or non existence. A young black child had to deal with racism in the 50's and things were dangerous in many situations. There were fewer opportunities back then.

If you were a young woman in the 16th century, you would have few rights and had been seen as property. In other countries, especially out East, there were a lot of starving people throughout history. That's not to say that the standard hobo situation hasn't been lost to time. . . but when my father was young, gypsies were run off. There was no charity toward them.

Yes, times are rough. They are often rough. We have built a small group of individuals who rely on handouts. There are homeless situations that tear at the heart. Crime stinks. But saying that people in general are lacking in empathy is a misconception. Making people feel guilty makes money. Standing on a soap box really gets people listening in. But the truth is, only the people who have empathy will be crestfallen on the assumations that we lack the capacity to feel for one another.

The good news is, most of us are good people. Most of us have a moral compass, and most of us are considerate about our fellow man. There have always been people who think they don't need to care about others, but deep down the writer is wrong. I see nothing but empathy all over our world. If she can't see that, it's a sad thing for her, and my heart breaks for her. Because truly, empathy is what keeps our hearts warm and our country great. Maybe some of it is selfish empathy because it makes a person feel good to care about others, but it may just be what separates us from animals.

Even when faced with starvation, your average human will split his food with another starving soul or even a starving pet. An animal will scarf all the food up and not share a drip, even when it means his buddy will die because of it. . . Don't be disheartened. The world is still good because people aren't going to let it get as bad as some complain it is.

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