When you pity sick

I'd want my hospital room to be 'sterile'.

Pity gets a bad name. I don't think it's pity that stops anyone making positive contributions, in fact it can motivate. Is it really distinct from 'empathy'?

I linked to this before, which identifies a kind of saccharine falseness particularly common in the US:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/02/cancer-positive-thinking-barbara-ehrenreich

an ideological force in American culture that I had not been aware of before – one that encourages us to deny reality, submit cheerfully to misfortune and blame only ourselves for our fate

If you find something inspiring though, go with it.

I'd want my hospital room to be 'sterile'.

Pity gets a bad name. I don't think it's pity that stops anyone making positive contributions, in fact it can motivate. Is it really distinct from 'empathy'?

I linked to this before, which identifies a kind of saccharine falseness particularly common in the US:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/02/cancer-positive-thinking-barbara-ehrenreich

an ideological force in American culture that I had not been aware of before – one that encourages us to deny reality, submit cheerfully to misfortune and blame only ourselves for our fate

If you find something inspiring though, go with it.