Why do we have to directly experience grief in order to learn how to share the burden of others’ grief? 
We should strive to share in the sorrows of our fellow man.  We may not understand their suffering, but we can strive to love greater through expressing compassion for their life circumstance. 

The callous that society tries to inflict upon us begins in childhood- from trying to create premature independence in infants, to encouraging independence from the need for relationships as adults- is creating isolation throughout humanity.

We were created for relationship with one another, not to be individual creatures completely devoid of need for interaction and relationship with one another. 

Read My Blog: Radical Change with Compassion

How do we learn to genuinely care for others’ life situations?

• Remember that we are not “islands”.  John Donne, the 17th century English poet wrote, “no man is an island…every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is less…any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind…therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, the bell tolls for thee.” 
• Remember Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in the 20th century, “I cannot be who I am supposed to be until you are who you are supposed to be.  And you cannot be who  you are supposed to be until I am who I am supposed to be.”
• Remember those who suffer. We must share in the burden of humanity with one another.  As women in Afghanistan are suffering and being refused education in many circumstances, other men are dying from fighting wars against their brothers in Africa, while still yet, homeless children are without basic needs such as food and water in Haiti. 
  
• We must act. Get out there. Travel. You will not have to walk or drive far to find someone in need. Act.
• Lend your hand and your heart. No matter how small we think our contribution is, we must act. When we share in one another’s burdens, in doing so, we will ease the pain and suffering of everyone, ourselves included, and only then can we share in one another's joys.