Empathy and action
We can have empathy without action. Empathy in and out of itself doesn’t mean change. Just like imagination doesn’t mean creativity.
In order for us to change from an empathic perspective, there needs to be empathy, of course. There also needs to be an action, a changing action. We can be as empathic as we wan’t it doesn’t mean something happens.
I remember feeling incredibly empathic during the refugee crisis in 2015. Few other things were on my mind, despite being in my last year of gymnasium studies. I daydreamed about going down to Greece or Italy to help out, or getting politically involved in some way. But I did neither. In fact, I didn’t do anything of substance that I remember from that time.
See, the feelings can be there. Just as your own. Being angry about something doesn’t change it. Being sad about something doesn’t change it. You have to do something about the matter.
And empathy is just the same.