Posted by ChuckC (216.128.199.108) on August 29, 2001 at 12:04:31:
In Reply to: Attention getting....selfish? posted by August on August 29, 2001 at 06:00:39:
I have never truly been able to [completely] empathize with someone else because as similar as things may be in our two separate lives, they just aren’t quite the same. Our personalities and our psyches are shaped by our own experiences, and no two people experience exactly the same thing; even conjoined twins have different experiences, because there is more than one mind processing the information. I can’t necessarily say that selfishness motivates a person to take that sort of action. Of course, I can only see the world through my own eyes, so I’m prejudiced by my own intellectual development (or lack thereof) over the years. Until we pass through this life into whatever’s next, all we can offer is opinion. I guess that’s why I like the old proverb about not rushing to judgement until we’ve walked in someone else’s shoes (but sometimes, even that isn’t enough). Yes, suicide causes pain for those left behind, but just how much pain is someone capable of withstanding? It’s not something I’d recommend, but someone else's pain is certainly not something I’m qualified to make judgements about.