What Should Our Response Be to the Deepest Needs of Humanity?

WARNING: You are now running on reserve empathy power. Please connect your heart to a power source.

girl on playground equipment

In this past year alone, we have seen unprecedented tragedies from Haiti to Chile to Pakistan to Egypt, Libya, Ivory Coast, and the Gulf of Mexico to Japan. I can’t handle it anymore. I don’t have any empathy left. I feel like a computer with its battery shutting down.

All of my talents and passions are worthless if there isn’t empathy in my heart. It is empathy that will give me the power to continue on. There appears to be no power outlet in sight to recharge my fatigued heart.

Read Andrew Thompson’s entire article about “empathy fatigue” in the Chicago Tribune.

4 Comments |Add a comment

  1. Ruth May 5, 2011

    I realized a long time ago that I wanted to save ALL the hurting children of the world. I then realized that I couldn’t save ANY of them. Only Jesus saves. I am not the Savior. However Jesus uses me as a conduit to help some children, to pray for them and give them hope & joy. The other children he helps through other people, like Compassion sponsors and staff. By keeping this perspective and by doing what Jesus wants me to do, I avoid ’empathy fatigue’.

  2. nicola May 5, 2011

    Oooh, I sponsor a little girl in Bolivia whom I havent heard from for ages, I am gonna contact compassion and make sure she is ok..do u know which child was affected by the flooding?

    1. Kees Boer May 5, 2011

      The main one being affected by the mudfloods is BO177. What do you mean by “ages”? You should at least get the “program letters” which are sent out 3 times a year, soon 2 times a year. But it’s very important to write to the children. This is even more important than sending in the money. The child looks at the sponsorship primarily as a relationship. Can you tell me what project number the child is from. It is the first 3 numbers after “BO” in the child number. For instance BO 857-9876 means project 857, child 9876. (Neither that project or child exist) But it is an example how it works. 🙂

  3. Kees Boer May 5, 2011

    I know how you feel. What helps me is to focus and then help there…. I’m focusing on Bolivia…. There are lots of places to help, but even Jesus focused on certain things. He had the 70 disciples and within that he had the 12 disciples and within those, he had the 3 disciples…. He didn’t do that because He was partial. God isn’t partial. He did that and He effected everyone. If He focussed on everything, He would not have been effective. Paul did the same thing. II Tim. 2:2

    Oh, and Bolivia had the Pampahasi mudslides, effecting over 50 Compassion children, who lost their home. And they had flooding in Cochabamba and a child was affected from BO533…

    Blessings,

    Kees

Add a Comment

Read the ground rules for comments.