5 tweets · March 2024 · 73 likes · 2 retweets · read on Twitter
I want a word for the feeling/stance when something that happens easily for you is hard for someone else, in a way you have no control over... some people would say "guilty", others might say "lucky" which is also true but it's a different feeling that's also present.
...a kind of empathic/compassionate sorrow that says "I don't know what that is like because it was easy for me but I'm sad that it's hard for you and I don't think you're fundamentally less worthy of good things... and I can't give you any advice because I sorta lucked out"
as an example for where this feeling might show up, consider two mothers who are friends and whose sons are both in the military (or wives-whose-husbands I guess)... and one of their men dies.
or like, someone who is able to have kids really easily, talking to someone who has been trying unsuccessfully for years
I think part of the pain is that there's an experience of having abundance and someone you care about having scarcity, but there's no real way to share your abundance with them. that's part of the issue here.