Everyone, just want to say how nice it is to even SEE the word 'empathy'. Nothing disturbs me more than the lack of compassion that is so prevelant in this day and age. I'm not saying it was ever any better, but it is not Good. People who pretend that things are fine, are 'those' that are able to do that in Life, I've never had that option. My son was burned at 4 years of age, an accident, he had to learn to walk again, third degree burns over a third of his body. He was raised at a very young age, (recommended by the French Surgeon who administered Love and Empathy to him and Me), well, the doctor had told me, "Mom, you have to go into that burn unit for the next 4 months and show nothing but Love and if YOU do this, he will never remember certain things because of his age'.. Well I did this twice a day and would walk out the door and literally collapse on a cot and bawl my eyes out. He is fine now, but for years in school, from kindegarden up to high school, I would get lectures on being 'too' motherly, etc, even though, these dozens of teachers KNEW and saw his scars, knew that he could NOT play in sports, could NOT wear a belt until he was 14 years old, etc., Yet, that never stopped them from either looking down on my parenting skills or even giving me looks as if I had done this to him intentionally.. I can not put into words the frustration I would feel and I would try, in vain to explain things, to no avail. There, I will not mention this again, but I do feel better.. Love, an Emphatic person Lynn