Empathy

Reagan has always been our "sensitive child".  She is the only one of our children that seems to get her feelings hurt when Rob or I are upset, she is able to tell when someone is sad and in need of a hug.  Instead of retreating when Mommy's in a bad mood, she wants to move closer, and sit on my lap (this is not always appreciated, as it should be). 

Last night, we had a family movie that probably wasn't the most age-appropriate for Little Miss, but the rest of the family was engrossed, and she actually DID pay attention to it:  "All Is Lost" with Robert Redford.  He is the sole character,  a man on a sailboat lost at sea, and the film has maybe a handful of words in the entire thing.  I was shocked that all three kids hung on every scene of this silent journey for the full movie.  They were engrossed.  At the end (spoiler alert), Robert Redford burned his own lifeboat as a last-ditch effort to get the attention of a passing ship, and then let go of his lifeboat when it seems apparent that the effort failed.  Reagan started BAWLING.  Not "trickle of a tear down the cheek", but body-shaking, "from the gut" wails.  She was truly heart broken that the main character who she had been rooting for was drowning.  Poor thing.  It was really too adult of a movie for her to watch - but in this day and age of violence, sex, and drugs as entertainment, a movie about one man pitting his determination and intellect against nature in a bid for survival seemed to have at least a positive message.  It took me a good 10 minutes to calm her down - even after she saw that Robert Redford's scheme worked, and he WAS saved. 

The boys, when they were about 6 or so, teared up at "Where the Wild Things Are", and it was the first and only time that I've seen them cry for someone else besides themselves (well, or each other, but that's essentially the same thing.)  Reagan takes that empathy to a whole new level, and even though it caused her a lot of undue distress, it is reassuring to me that she has the capacity to care deeply for the wellbeing of another human being.      Empathy is becoming lost in our world, but it lives on in the heart of our little girl.  Thank goodness.  That gives me hope.