Empathy
People will forget what you said,
People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
-Bonnie Jean Wasmund
Disclaimer: I gaineth no prophet!
Notes: Happy Birthday, Bree! Yeah...I already gave What-Is-That a pressie...but I decided to use it as an excuse to get off my ass and WRITE!
Thanks - as usual- to Ash Phox, both for her continued support also the
idea to make my art into a present... (yeah, I stole the idea off her
:.D Thanks Ash!)
Oh, and I know, I wrote this in a weird tense... shut up! I was bored with past-tense, and I wasn't about to use future-tense P
Seto watches yet another incompetent employee standing before him, he watches him carefully, detached, emotionless,
He wipes his sweat-soaked forhead.
Once again, Seto observes the actions of a dead man,
He loosens his tie.
Once more, he sits perfectly still, leaving the man to ponder his fate,
There, a twitch in the corner of his left eye.
For what seems like the millionth time, he raises an eyebrow at the terrified worker,
The young man's face blanches at the small action.
Seto opens his mouth, continuing to observe his victim as he always has, without caring about the man's welfare.
He is surprised when the man interrupts his rant-to-be,
"Sir," begins the man, with a surprising amount of confidence for someone who is expelling more fluids than the Niagra Falls, "I am well aware you about to fire me."
Seto raises the other eyebrow, allowing the man to continue, which is an unusual event in itself,
but then, it is unusual for anyone to speak when about to be fired by Seto Kaiba.
The man swallows loudly, and continues,
"I do not mind particularly," he says boldly, "as working under you is like living in one of the lower circles of hell."
Seto scowls. He does not appreciate that,
"In a way you are doing me a favour… but the others… They have families, they need jobs, and they try so hard to keep this job, they bear you for months, years."
Seto stops scowling, what is this madman talking about?
"Empathy, sir." He said, as if reading Kaiba's thoughts,
"I speak of empathy, I speak of seeing someone's pain, and feeling that pain also. I speak of realising your actions hurt people, stopping and thinking before you rip a person apart, "
Seto's fingers twitch, and he speaks for the first time,
"Leave. Now. You are no one, and you may not tell me what to do, or how to feel. Never let me see your miserable face again."
The worker turns on his heel and closes the door behind him, but not before glancing back at Kaiba.
On his face, his expression is imploring, hopeful.
"Think about it, sir."
He leaves.
Empathy, muses Seto, Empathy.
He knows what it means in a literal sense, he can recite the definition (noun: the ability to understand, share, or relate to the feelings of others.)
But what does it mean to feel empathy?
Seto reflects, and he can only recall feeling a superior, patronizing sense of pity, a sort of:
"I have sympathy for you, and your pathetic existence, you disgusting worm."
Seto knows he was not always like this, he is certain he has felt empathy before, and- determined- he begins to tear through his database of memories, looking over his life for a moment in which he has demonstrated empathy...
A younger- only about three years younger- Seto started at the sound of cries from his brother's room.
Rising quickly, he ran to the nearby bedroom, crouching by the howling form of his brother.
"What's wrong, kid?" whispers Seto, desperately afraid of their adoptive father hearing, and further punishing the younger child.
Mokuba muffled a sob, and pointed to the apparent remains of a panda plushie on the floor.
Seto's heart ached for the little boy, but his anger spiked as he realised who had done such a thing...
So that was empathy, thinks Seto, have I lost the ability to feel such a thing?
If so, why?
Did I curb that particular emotion, in order to succeed in this cruel world, he ponders, in order to provide for Mokuba?
And can it be recovered? Reclaimed?
How would one go about regaining one's empathy? He reclines back in his lovely spinny office chair, I cannot buy it, nor can I gain it by my any of my other usual means...
Is empathy really that important? Don't you need empathy to have a desire for empathy...?
After all, I have gone this long without it, he sighs and sinks his head into his hands, but for Mokuba...for my brother, could I try?
Seto pulls himself out of his introspective trance, and snatches his state-of-the-art office phone from its cradle,
"Yumi," he says, "the man who just left..."
"Akio Satou, sir?"
"Satou, yes."
"Would you like me to call him back, sir?"
"No, thank you, Yumi..."
he hesitates,
"Yumi," he begins uncertainly, "Do I ever show empathy?"
Seto listens to the white fuzz noise of his secretary's hesitation, when she finally speaks her voice is stilted,
"Sir, although you do occasionally show sympathy, it is a condescending sympathy and quite different from empathy."
Exactly as I thought, sighs Seto,
"Very well, Yumi... and... thank you."
Seto does a quick computer search.
Of course, he has information on all his employees, and previous employees, so he finds a list of his ex-employees in mere seconds.
He narrows the search, currently unemployed,
16, sixteen of his previous staff are currently unemployed.
He feels some minor dejection as he remembers what it's like to live with nothing.
and it is then, he sees the end of his guilt-free conscience.
So, this is the fabled empathy, he rests his elbows on his desk, I think it still needs some work.
He begins to write out anonymous cheques to the addresses on his screen.
NOTE: Yes, I can recognise the difference between sympathy, empathy, and pity (ie, charity, like the cheques at the end) but I wanted to have some blurry lines, as Seto himself is supposed to be quite confused as to the exact meaning of empathy himself.
:D Review, please, mes infants!