Do You cry for your fellow man?

I don't know what is wrong with me. I can't see people suffering without my tears flowing freely. It's not just the Asian tsunami that affected me like that, most news stories cause me to feel the pain and anguish when people suffer. But I just watched some new pictures from Asia with children crying for their parents and parents crying for their children and just seeing the masses of dead bodies and my tears start flow.

why am I so greatly affected by this stuff? others feel bad, but not everyone sheds tears. Why is it that I have no control of my tears, why do I feel so bad? Why can I feel their pain and anguish by simply reading words or glancing at pictures?

I don't know where I am going with any of this, but right now I feel like there is an enormous weight on my shoulders and my heart is grieving for these total strangers. Please tell me I am not alone.

[edit on 12-28-2004 by worldwatcher]

Worldwatcher I 100% feel where you are coming from on this, As I also seem to feel the same,
I watch the news and feel so heavy hearted by what I see, I look in to the faces of those affected and almost feel there pain,

I carry these feelings around with me all the time, trying to make sense of such a disaster trying to comprehend the amount of deaths and I cant.

Its almost to unreal to think that 60,000 + people have lost there life�s,

I want to help but I don�t know how, Yes I can give money etc. But it almost does not feel enough; I feel I want to be there to comfort the families

Yes It hurts a lot -I keep telling myself that all those people are now in better place - this helps a little.
They say everything has a reason -in the moments as such is difficult to believe in it, but maybe this is the lesson - we are very vunerable creatures and we all have to day one day. So as long as we are alive we should cherish everybody, love our family and friends and help those, who cannot help themselves. This might sound pathetic, but how to comfort broken feelings???

I don't for a minute believe you are alone Worldwatcher, in fact I believe you are in very good company indeed.

This sign of empathy is, in my opinion, the sign of a great and humane characteristic. A sign of the compassion that makes us truly human.

And, again in my own humble opinion, the world should be grateful for you and those who like you hold such feelings in their hearts.

Jack

I totally understand , not only what's happening recently. but when i think about all the people that suffer for no apparant reason , it makes me want to cry. Sometimes i can't stop thinking about it, how ugly the world can be.

There is nothing wrong with you. You are being human, and being human means having compassion for your fellow man/woman. If people are not touched and full of sorrow by a tragedy such as the tsunami, they are not human.

Your not alone sweety. I am the same way. I cried too... I cry alot when I watch the news... I know people tend to get desensitized to things over time but that just has not happened to me at all. I still cry when something bad happens.
Sometimes just updates on the war in Iraq will bring on tears.
Your not alone.

as a native new yorker, seeing the tragedy of the world trade center as it happened from my office window and actually knowing a few of those who perished, i empathize with you all. when i saw the first tower collapse, the tears just would not stop....i thought i could run out of tears untill i saw the second tower go down.
as a somewhat 'jaded newyorker' i sometimes giggle when i see the 'end of days' threads posted on forums like this and others, but after what happened in Asia, i wonder....i really do.
i think ill stop at St.Patricks cathedral and light a candle on the way home tonight.-j: (

Originally posted by worldwatcher
I don't know what is wrong with me. I can't see people suffering without my tears flowing freely. It's not just the Asian tsunami that affected me like that, most news stories cause me to feel the pain and anguish when people suffer.

There is nothing wrong with you, WW. And if there is something wrong, then I have the same ailment.

I feel deeply for people and hate to see pain, especially when those who suffer are little children. When something 'natural' happens, such as the tsunami, the pain is bad enough, but when it is caused by human greed or hatred then it is far worse because it could have been avoided.

please dont laugh at me for this....-j

Ave Maria
Gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Ave, ave dominus
Dominus tecum
Benedicta tu in mulieribus
Et benedictus
Et benedictus fructus ventris
Ventris tuae, Jesus.
Ave Maria

Ave Maria
Mater Dei
Ora pro nobis peccatoribus
Ora pro nobis
Ora, ora pro nobis peccatoribus
Nunc et in hora mortis
Et in hora mortis nostrae
Et in hora mortis nostrae
Et in hora mortis nostrae
Ave Maria

WW, I grieve every night when i watch the news and suffer for the victims of any crime or natural disaster such as the most recent one. I get a knot in my stomach to see so much pain and suffering in this world.

You are not alone. Sometimes i get physically ill from it all

OKAY, i think I'm going to look like the first jerk on this thread, but no, I don't always cry. Sometimes, I feel nothing at all.

We spend our whole lives watching morbid movies and telling ourselves "dont be scared, its just a movie, dont cry, none of its real" and then the one day when a catastrophe actually strikes, i think i revert back to being 6 year old girl watching an R rated horror flick...dont worry little girl...none of its real....

but then there's always one thing, one sound, one face that changes my entire perception. i was unfeeling towards 911 until we watched a documentary at school. it was taken of the firemen inside the lobby of the first tower immediately after it had been hit. they were scurrying about, looking at blueprints, trying to discover how to get people out.
then suddenly, outside you heard a crash, then silence. every single firefighter raised their head towards the windows and the lobby stood still. soon, the crashes repeated themselves every 10 or 15 seconds.

it wasn't debris anymore. the crashees were the sounds made of people jumping from the upper stories.

at this i broke down.

the tsunami footage outraged me, mostly because of anderson cooper being a jerk off, saying things like "this footage is incredible. you almost have to watch it over and over and over again to truly understand what youre seeing." i saw the tape once and said "yep, thats a giant tidal wave."

then i saw in the background of a shot, a small child standing alone while people were running about after the wave had stopped. this i cannot handle.

so as you see, until something hits me that i can fell, that i can understand, no i cannot cry.

until i recognize something that i have not already told myself "dont worry, this isnt real"...until reality breaks through the barriers of my protected vision...it is not until then when i can cry.

until i haven't already seen it on the silver screen.

thank you all for letting me know I am not alone. and Scat I don't blame you for not crying. Most people won't shed tears, my husband watched the very same coverage as I and all he said was "that's #ed up" I know he felt bad, but he doesn't react with emotion like I do.

Dgtempe, how often do you get physically ill from this stuff? This is a first for me, but I am really physically ill at the moment. I am having cold sweats, shivers and running a temperature since yesterday. I feel almost like I have dengue fever. I know am empathic but I never truly feel someone's anguish, pain and ails unless I am touching them or in the same room with them. My sudden fever and heavy heart makes me think I am somehow experiencing what some may be going thru in that area.

thanks for assuring me that I am still very much human and in the best of company.

Originally posted by worldwatcher
Why can I feel their pain and anguish by simply reading words or glancing at pictures?

There is good and evil in this world... Your on the good side, your not alone, you see the evil in this world and your heart bleeds..

Seeing small evil things and big evil things/events really affect me too.
It can be really heartwrenching sometimes, you can cry for your fellowman all you want, but helping them is going a step further.. crying won't get them the help they need or the love they need, or the hugs they need... It all comes down to love, we were all brought up with love, closeness, and a sense of community, they are really great feelings to have and to continue to have, this world needs more of it, and the more and more news reporters and television series and what not keep promoting the opposite, i'm afraid too many people will flounder as well...

If we were all to throw out our televisions today and got the news stories of the day from radio, I think we would have much love in our communities, more of a sense of togetherness, and more compassion towards our fellow man...

More people would come together in their communities and help the less fortunate, life can be so cruel and unfair, it's our duty as fellow citizen's to come together and help those who have been dealt a bad hand.

I would just like to say too, that it's so good and refreshing to see so many big hearts on one thread...

May peace and love be upon you all

WW:
For a couple of weeks i've been sitting at my computer at work and have felt a shaking inside of me and have been dizzy. I've asked my co-worker if she has felt anything shaking and she says no- At the same time i have felt very upset and sad and have had to get up for water and a walk to try to shake this "feeling". I dont have a cold or the flu but feel drained and sad and tired...I mostly keep it to myself because my husband gets upset if i tell him i feel sick...I dont like drama but i think i know how you feel. Maybe we're picking up the sadness of the world like a psychic sponge? I dont know- I hope you feel better, God bless you.

Originally posted by dgtempe
For a couple of weeks i've been sitting at my computer at work and have felt a shaking inside of me and have been dizzy.

dg, did you start feeling this around the beginning of November ?
I can't shake the feeling that something serious is coming. Something that will cause us all to cry for humanity. I don't know what it is, but I started feeling it around the beginning of November and do know what the catalyst was. I haven't been able to shake it either, its like a dark cloud behind me.

You too, Pisky? I'm sorry- Yes, it started for me in November and i thought the elections had something to do with it but i think it goes beyond that and dont know what it is. :shk:

It is nice to have the ATS community and be able to find comfort with one another. Lets hope whatever looms will have mercy on us. Take care Pisky.

Its very sad to all of this death and loss of life, not just in Asia but its in other news. Children losing thier parents, parents losing children. Its awful.

I don't know how anyone cannot read a news story on this tragedy and not shed at least one tear or not be saddend by this. There is so much suffering in humanity all over the glob, Sudan, Asia, Europe its everywhere. Some people do not cry or care until the tragedy has happend to them, others like us shed a tear for those hurt in this event and others.

It just sickens me to see some people not give a damn about genocide, or all of this death.

Your not alone, I am deeply saddend by this loss of life and I just cannot wacth or even think of the children dieing and losing their parents.

I think also, as a whole we are feeling very unstable, I think the feeling is a kind off unsaftey,

Think about it, first we have terrorism, we all know that there is a big chance that some day some where we could get caught up in an attack, we think back to 9/11 so many innocent people died,

And now we have nature showing is what she can do,

Terrorism we can fight against, we can keep our eyes open and feel as if we are doing something,

But Nature, What can we do? We have to sit and wait to see what comes our way, never knowing what�s next,

So again I think we feel somewhat vulnerable,

But gosh i have no real idea, just trying to make some scense of a situation that i feel so unable to help with,

In response to the question stated in the title, No Never.