"How do you get an empathetic child? You get an empathetic child not by trying to teach the child and admonish the child to be empathetic; you get an empathetic child by being empathetic with the child. The child's understanding of relationships can only be from the relationships he's [sic] experienced."

-L. Alan Sroufe (Child Psychologist)

Students of Living Interpretation:

We are all children of the world, figuring out our lives one day at a time. As individuals, if we expect empathy from friends, family, strangers, etc., then we must be empathetic towards those same people. Life is a cycle of leading by example and the more we put out empathy (or anything for that matter), the more it will come back to us.

We get what we give.