I'm not sure if you have a specific situation in mind or what, but I do know that I've observed what seems to be a growing tendency of a lot of people to not want to feel, or not to feel anything but anger and sarcasm. They don't want to have things like sorrow or regret or sadness or deep sympathy evoked. That's even been reflected in music for years; rap "music" is mostly just angry rantings; funerals are called "celebrations of life", people are cremated instead of being buried, because they don't think their passing should evoke any sadness; tv shows are all about drama, but not emotional drama; they're usually just non-stop action and witty jabs at personality and behavior, full of witty sarcasm and calling each other bad names like it's the normal thing to do.
And certainly nothing about regret or thinking before ya act. Honestly, I've observed a trend even in Christianity lately----preachers are preachin' about making a choice (which is valid and good in itself!) but not much about the emotion of Loving the Lord or sorrow for sins; people just go up to the altar and say a little ritualistic prayer and consider themselves born again; or else they think that just joining that particular Church means they're saved.
The world is a hard cold place; that I know; and maybe lack of compassion is a defense mechanism; we can't stand being hurt ourselves, so we shut ourselves off from situations that evoke emotion, creating a scenario where we can't truly empathize with others either.
We often even shut ourselves off from joy. Maybe not from pleasure, but from true joy. Maybe we're jaded and fatalistic since we know the joy can't last all the time.
Is that anything along the lines of what you meant? Is it helplessness about our own problems that cause us to be less sympathetic toward others? I dunno. But those are just my thoughts that were evoked by your question.....
Contrary to some false statements about humans not having a "heart", we do indeed have an inner "heart" that's not just a robotic mechanism in our bodies. We feel. Our hearts were made to feel emotions, both positive and negative, good and bad. I think many people deliberately make a choice to harden those hearts, either from fear or from selfishness.............
