In DRIVE, Daniel Pink discusses three reasons why lawyers tend to be miserable. They are that pessimism is an occupational hazard, law is a zero-sum game, and attorneys usually have tremendous responsibility but not much decision-making. I want to add a fourth: They see people as they are.
And how we are is just equipped to operate our own small universe of problems. That's why empathy fatigue can occur so quickly. With the 8.8 earthquake in Chile, so soon after Haiti, I am not up emotionally to commiserating with the current victims and all the possible victims along the Pacific. There may be extraordinary individuals who can do that. Bill Clinton really does seem able to feel everyone's pain.
This event is a tragedy. But I can not open my heart big.
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