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Empathy: I Kill A Friend With Autism

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Empathy: I Kill A Friend With Autism
Many people today do not understand what empathy means or at least they did not know that they can experience it. The first time I experienced empathy was when I was in grade school and received the same grade as some of my classmates. We were all proud of ourselves and we were happy. That connection I experienced with my classmates is empathy. So what if I received a good grade and my autistic friend received a good grade too? Do I feel just as happy as he or she does? It is said that people with Autism are different than people who do not. I have not experienced having a friend with Autism until I was in high school. I always thought that they were stupid and awkward. It seemed harsh but that is how I felt about them because that is what …show more content…
An example is when she kills a dog and she can feel the dog’s pain of it slowly dying. Lauren must pause and endure the pain just as the dog. If this disorder was real then many people would be “over experiencing” pain because there is so much destruction in the world. If one was to look at this situation in the world today, it would be a crime. One would have to ask themselves, “How would I feel if I killed a dog”? The thought of that would be disturbing, at least to people without a mental sickness. Researchers believe that people who kill others or animals with no motif have a mental sickness. Personally, I would feel guilty, depressed, sad, and angry at myself if I killed a dog. Dogs are treated equally just as humans are. Dogs need to be bathed, fed, and have shelter. I imagine it would be difficult for someone who killed a dog to read that passage of the novel. How would they feel? Typically, the reader would feel guilt and remorse because they have experienced the same situation. Yet there can be a positive outlook into this where the character diagnosed with hyper empathy can feel the same joy as someone else would. This can help people who are alone because they would understand how they exactly feel and would be there to comfort them. “In contrast with that social emphasis, other authors proposed that when those emotions are oriented towards reducing someone else’s suffering those should be called sympathy, and empathy should be simply defined as ‘an affective response that stems from the apprehension or comprehension of another’s emotional state or condition and is similar to what the other person is feeling or would be expected to feel’” (Vilardaga 178). It is easily mistaken to feel sympathetic towards someone rather than feeling empathetic to someone. The

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