Empathy

I actually took the test twice and took the average of my two scores, in order to get a more accurate score.  I didn’t like some of the questions because I was too centralized and had difficulties deciding between slightly agree and slightly disagree, so the second time I took the test I changed the answers to a few questions I was unsure about to cancel them out. My score was actually higher than I expected, I got a 63. I generally don’t trust online tests much (hence why I took it twice) but I feel like it’s a fairly accurate score. I’ve always been very intuitive about people’s feelings and I usually take others into consideration when deciding something. My main reason for wanting to be a politician is so I can make a positive difference in people’s lives so I guess that makes me an empathetic person. I completely agree with Dan Pink’s theory on teaching empathy; it’s exactly what I was thinking before I watched the video but he found a more proper way to express it. However I also believe we move within that spectrum constantly depending on situations. There are definitely days when I feel more empathetic and days when I just want to focus on me. As cliché as it might be, the most empathetic person I can think of is my priest. He gave up everything in order to serve people. He goes wherever the Archdiocese believes he is most needed, he can’t start a family, he can’t have a second career, if a family needs him at 3am he helps them even if he has a 6am mass, and what’s most astonishing is he enjoys it all. The amount of dedication to God and the vast variety in the community he serves requires him to be able to see everything in a million perspectives and give knowledgeable advice. On the other hand I am surrounded by un-empathetic friends. None of my friends are completely horrible but when grouped together they would probably score a 10. I have one friend who is extremely helpful towards others but she has no emotional intuition; she is a horrible person reader and can’t tell what people are feeling. On the other hand I have another friend who can look at someone and correctly guess how they feel but she just doesn’t care. She’s selfish and focused on reaching her goals and making herself happy so unless helping out benefits her in some way she won’t do it. (Haha yet they are still both my friends, I have a talent for ignoring people’s flaws and finding the good in them XD)