“The world has no sympathy with any but positive griefs; it will pity you for what you lose, but never for what you lack.”
--Anne Sophie Swetchine
Although this is mostly true (and brilliant, by the way) for the way it recognizes that the outside world never experiences the internal pain we cause ourselves by imagining how much better our lives could be, it does neglect the cases where people at a distance experience extreme lack and we empathize with them. But she’s certainly right that it is far easier to get sympathy for losing something than for not ever having had it. Perhaps it’s the insecurity we all want to avoid feeling about our own current hoard of treasure (including the relational sort). But perhaps it’s just that someone visibly falling down is more noticeable than someone who’s always been laying there.
--Anne Sophie Swetchine
Although this is mostly true (and brilliant, by the way) for the way it recognizes that the outside world never experiences the internal pain we cause ourselves by imagining how much better our lives could be, it does neglect the cases where people at a distance experience extreme lack and we empathize with them. But she’s certainly right that it is far easier to get sympathy for losing something than for not ever having had it. Perhaps it’s the insecurity we all want to avoid feeling about our own current hoard of treasure (including the relational sort). But perhaps it’s just that someone visibly falling down is more noticeable than someone who’s always been laying there.
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