Sympathy is not empathy. It stands at a distance, is often only symbolically sensitive, and reifies the distance between the sympathizer and the sympathized.
Pity is not empathy. It is a comparative measure. Pity is the emotional residual of feeling good about oneself and one’s situation. Pity is fleeting and often degrading.
Charity is not empathy. Charity masquerades as the offspring of empathy but isn’t even in the family. Charity does not necessarily correlate with feelings at all and is often disempowering for the recipient.
Empathy is more vulnerable than sympathy, less selfish than pity, and unlike charity, it's grounded in the power of shared feelings.
Empathy removes pretense, enters into the reality of an other, and finds intersections between disparate worlds. Empathy is not artificial connection, but instead it’s the willingness to sit in the “spray zone” of someone’s life long enough to feel what it’s like to be drenched.
