“And the locust came up on the entire land of Egypt and they rested on the entire boundary of Egypt. It was very heavy, before this there were never as many locust and afterwards there will never again be as much.” (Shemot 10:14)
Rashi raises the question that in the times of the prophet Yoel there was even a bigger plague than in the times of Egypt. The Chasam Sofer explains that although in the days of Yoel there were more locust than in Egypt, this was only in actual numbers. The plague of locust was the eighth plague and they had already been devastated by seven more plagues before. What he means is that at the time of Egypt the plague of locust was adding to the previous damage and suffering, this is why it’s considered to be more than at any other time.
This idea gives us some insight into understanding the difficulties that others are suffering. When someone suffers because of some event in their lives, the pain is subjective rather than objective. What this means is that the pain someone is suffering may be an addition to a previous suffering causing the pain to be bigger than you think.
When someone reacts very strongly to some matter ask the person: “what does this mean to you?” This empathetic question will allow you to see what is underneath your perception and possibly help him.
#empathy#noteverythingisasitseems#feelforothers
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