Bianca and I got into an argument about whether or not one could 'walk in another person's shoes'. Her problem is akin to mine, if not the same one: She can empathise, but not sympathise as well. To sympathise is to walk around in another's shoes. It is not the same as to wear another's wardrobe; that is, to sympathise is never to become another individual entirely, for that is impossible.
Regardless, if one can feel what it is to 'be someone else' for a few minutes, then one may be able to write with that person's voice. If, however, one can only empathise but maintain one's usual comfortable position, any such attempt on the writer's part would be akin to a poorly played solo by someone who just picked up the saxophone and did not bother to learn theory.
Regardless, sympathy is a dangerous thing. To open that channel may be to open a floodgate of uncontainable emotion that one is unprepared for. Empathy may be equally dangeous, although both are necessary.
dm.A.A.
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