sympathy

Sympathy is to compassion what phoniness is to authenticity. Sympathy is a fake coin. "There, there, it'll be all right". It is cheap, easy, sentimental and most often lacks sincerity. When someone has taken ill, lost his job, gotten injured or some other mishap, it is often at their own hands, through stupidity, in attentiveness or self destructive inclinations. They will then ask for sympathy, in other words, they want a free pass so they can go out and fuck up some more - this time with your blessing. It is co-dependent behavior, at best. Now, if you want to really support someone, you'll offer compassion and honesty. When sympathy shows up, honesty usually flies out the window, as they are most often wholly incompatible. Hence the popular quip, you'll find sympathy in the dictionary between shit and syphilus. It is worse than offering nothing at all.