You Want Empathy? I’ll Give You Empathy!

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Clarissa

October 23, 2011

We all remember that I teach at a state university in an economically blighted area of the US, right? And that our students get offered full-time jobs that pay $11,000 per year after they graduate? And that our students work 2 – 3 part-time jobs while going to college, right?

A student of mine writes:

The government of our country is oppressive towards the rich people. It treats them unfailry by asking them to pay more than their fair share in taxes.

And you say empathy is dead in this country.

P.S. I have just been visited by a horrible suspicion. Is it possible that the student thinks I’m rich and is trying to get me to like them in this inventive manner?

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15 responses to “You Want Empathy? I’ll Give You Empathy!”

nicoleandmaggie

October 23, 2011

Monday’s post on our blog is for your student. (Wrote it last week, but it’s still for your student.) It explains why some level of progressivity is “fair.”

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annon

October 23, 2011

Well, many of these hard working students prefer to do things the hard way rather than get things handed to them at the expense of other people.

I gotta say, if I had to employ some self-entitled person who believes society owes him/her or a self-sufficient hard working student, I will always choose the latter.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  October 23, 2011
  
  I just reread my own post twice and still failed to see how it is connected to this comment. Hmmm….
  
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  1. annon
    
    October 23, 2011
    
    I tend to go off on tangents
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      October 23, 2011
      
      I know the feeling. 🙂
      
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scratchy888

October 23, 2011

annon :
Well, many of these hard working students prefer to do things the hard way rather than get things handed to them at the expense of other people.
I gotta say, if I had to employ some self-entitled person who believes society owes him/her or a self-sufficient hard working student, I will always choose the latter.

I think something went wrong with this programming code (sub clauses within other clauses of logical construction), but I would have to drink some coffee to figure it out.

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1. annon
  
  October 23, 2011
  
  This is funny because I’ve actually been writing some C code.
  
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scratchy888

October 23, 2011

Anyway, I think it is a good idea to “empathise” with the rich. Smother them with kindness. Develop our minds and bodies to their peaks and then bestow upon the wealthy our deepest sympathies.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  October 23, 2011
  
  Yes, let’s all do that, why don’t we? 🙂
  
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Isabel

October 23, 2011

“Is it possible that the student thinks I’m rich ”

Maybe if they read your blog and observe that you are eating caviar and not batting an eye over $28,000. cameras… 🙂 🙂

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  October 23, 2011
  
  At this point, I’m glad if they do any kind of reading. 🙂
  
  Caviar is really not expensive at Russian stores, especially if you speak Russian.
  
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Jennifer Frances Armstrong

October 23, 2011

Hi Clarissa — an unrelated post, so please delete if you see fit. I would like you know what you think of this piece of writing, with its biblical reference points and attitude towards “identity”:

When I was a child I played childishly; when I became a man I put away the ghost of literary thought that stuffed me with attitudes in my student days. What is it, this vast room we call the sky; these endless miles of reality thickly knit with grit? The waiter must stretch his lips if he wants to get tips. We stand each to each like sides of rock once quarried mercilessly by blind Victorian adventurers who only sought the few gold veins in us. They have extracted the best part of our being and left us like this. I woke up long ago this morning with aches and pains in all the things I took for granted. This desperate tinder becomes youth. Even the death certificate is not quite like me, said Lazarus when he came out of the tomb. Things always happen in the worst possible way, however hard one tries to unbend them. I can never look a rational thought straight in the eyes. Hate me if you wish, but not too offensively. And there I was yesterday hammering the typewriter keys with a worldliness not of this world. Thoughts like claws must be sheathed. Something always happens to show us how blind we really are. This is not only stranger than we imagine but stranger than we can imagine. We cannot all afford the luxury of self-disgust but someone has to do the dirty work. That means — me. My hunger has stamina enough. My actions are always my fault though my thought would plead otherwise. Attitudes–attitudes.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  October 24, 2011
  
  Honestly, I don’t get it at all.
  
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NancyP

October 24, 2011

We ought to have some domestic caviar in this region…..The Mississippi River has sturgeons.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  October 24, 2011
  
  It’s usually very expensive and not of very good quality when I try to buy it in this region. I think it costs too much because people see it as a luxury item and expect to pay a lot for it.
  
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