Snoring Monk

E MPATHY does not develop in a person naturally; rather, it needs to be cultivated, as per Steven Pinker in his book "The Better Angels of Our Nature". Empathy must not be confused with sympathy. One can be sympathetic to people in challenging situations like physically challenged people who beg for money or elderly homeless people or those living in slums, etc. Empathy is an altogether different emotion or act. One of my friends in Cuttack distributes chocolates and storybooks to children living in a slum near his place, feeding stray dogs daily with biscuits bought from a local paan shop, as exemplified by the Principal of Biju Patnaik Institute of Information Technology and Management, (BIITM), Bhubaneswar , Dr. Mihir Ranjan Nayak or another friend of mine who has taken a stray dog as a pet instead of a specific expensive breed in Bangalore. These can be considered acts of empathy. There are numerous examples I have come across. There is a Bhubaneswar-based NGO th...