“Janice and I lived in our home since 1979. We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can’t be taken away.”
This one hit me hard. I wish what Billy said was true, but it isn’t that simple. As we get older, it gets very difficult to remember everything clearly. When people say “a house full of memories”, what they really mean is a “a house full of memory triggers”. Mr. Crystal, his wife, and his children have lost a lot of those triggers to the fire.
I might be silly and sentimental, but this made me genuinely very sad.
I’m not sure you meant it this way, but this reads like “If I can’t have empathy for everyone, I refuse to have empathy with even a single person.” Is that truly what you mean or am I misunderstanding you?
Perhaps you should open a dictionary before you make such assumptions about people in a public space.
Empathy: The ability to identify with or understand another’s situation or feelings.
Grieve: To mourn or sorrow for.
I can empathize for those who have lost their homes but I’m not able to grieve for them all. My brother’s dog just died on Christmas. I grieved for the loss of the dog and empathized with my family.
I’m not sure why you’re reacting so arrogantly to my question when I was giving you every benefit of the doubt.
Ouch, it must be embarrassing to you to be guilty of what you are accusing me of. Make sure you hold onto that dictionary to look up the meaning of the word “assumption”. I didn’t assume. I told you my reading with your context, and told you I didn’t believe you meant it that way, and asked you to clarify. An assumption would have none of that and instead simply said that my reading was your your meaning without any followup for clarity.
It’s become a common and accepted practice to twist the words of others to drive a narrative, to misinform, to bully, and to gain power. Given the opportunity, I will call it out.
It’s also a sad and common practice to reject the meaning of words. We have the world’s information at our fingertips yet people often prefer righteousness over facts.
Be mindful of the words you chose to use.
You’re going to have to make a choice then, and maybe you already have. You have to either choose everyone is out to get you and approach every situation as adversarial, as you did here, or you choose to assume the best of someone that they aren’t actively trying to get you. Part of your decisions should weight whats at stake. If its your life savings on the line then absolutely, be wary. If the stakes are just losing a pissing match on the internet, maybe be a little less guarded. The worst that could happen is someone, of whom you have a low opinion anyway, will put words on a screen you don’t like.
The approach you used here, if you use it everywhere, will have you looking like an aggressive jerk to everyone you interact with for even the simplest of conversations. I doubt that is your intent, but it will be the result.
You’re assuming way too much of the general public, and also ignoring that many you’re interacting with on the internet have English as their second, third, or fourth language. Setting the expectation that all of those you interact with will have the same advanced lexicon as you might also leave you unhappy.
I was, and you bit my head off for it. If you’re looking to have people avoid interacting with you in a positive and supportive manor, just keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll get your wish.
We have limited capacity to care, so don’t waste it on the wealthy. Clear enough for you?
Not quite, but more clear. Okay so if this was some rando guy instead of Billy Crystal, you would have empathy for that rando guy? Is that right?