Empathy

I am starting to believe that empathy is the lost art of human nature. When did we get so selfish that we forgot to care about other people? I'm not asking everyone to have a bleeding heart here, a lot of general people annoy/piss me off and I can be as bitchy as they come. But being an over all good person shouldn't be that hard, and I believe that empathy is something that we all need to perform on a regular basis. And tolerance should be taught as well. And here's why:

I'm in class and the TA who teaches my section is called up to speak. I think he's a bit light in the loafers, but so what? Lexington has a fairly high gay population percentage (2nd after San Fransisco I believe), and it's tolerant too. Plus we're in a huge university setting, so my TA's not a rarity. And he's a good teacher, which is what actually matters. So his preferences shouldn't even be an "issue" in the first place right?

Right? Well, it's not for me, but apparently it is for the child sitting in front of me. This insolent ugly little brat (think uber-douche bag) mouths to his equally douchey (pronounced like touche) friend a derogatory term the second my TA started to speak. And I wanted to tap him on the shoulder, and say, so what, he's still probably getting more ass then you'll ever get you nasty little boy. But what would that have helped? Maybe this kid will grow up and be shamed one day. But that doesn't change that at that moment, he was not a good person.

So I think there should be a mandatory class in tolerance and empathy. It's a pass/fail deal, and if you fail, you have stay in douche bag jail until you pass. You live prision style until you can be a nicer person in society. And you have to retake the test every year too. Like repassing your boards to make sure you are keeping up to date with the latest stuff.