How low compassionate empathy can set the stage for moral OCD Most of us assume (and are taught) that caring about other people is a feeling, a warm, emotional pull that says, “Go comfort them. Go help. Go be there." We learn that good people are caring people, and to care means to be distressed enough by someone else's distress that you feel compelled to take action to alleviate it if you can. But that isn’t how everyone’s mind works, and if that's surprising to you, it's li

In college, I volunteered for a program to teach second-graders to guess what their peers were feeling based on flashcards of facial expressions, petting therapy dogs and imagining how they felt, and all kinds of reciprocal communication skill-building exercises. The program was called “Empathy Matters.” Those who had been signed up were the kids identified as having “behavioral issues,” bullying classmates, and seeming from the outside to not care about others. I wouldn’t be