The collapse of compassion.

Be more compassionate.

Joseph Stalin said that the death of one person is a tragedy; the death of one million is a statistic. And Mother Teresa once said, “If I look at the mass, I will never act.”

When Stalin and Mother Teresa agree on a point, I sit up and pay attention. It turns out that the human tendency to turn away from mass suffering is well documented.

Perversely we care less when more people suffer than when one does. Why? Because we turn our emotions down for fear of being overwhelmed. The alternative is just too difficult.

In these trying times in the world we need compassion more than ever. Guarding against our natural instincts might be the only way for society to pull through this.

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