Whither empathy? Empathy is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.” I think about empathy often, in part because a friend offered up a lack of empathy as an explanation for all of our many ills.  I’m not sure he’s right, but I don’t want to say he’s wrong, either.

The immediate trigger for this piece—as in, what did I read today?—comes from a Facebook comment to Walmart could pay workers $14.89 an hour without raising prices at Daily Kos. I can’t find the comment but a pretty close approximation is

I could support a wage increase for Walmart workers, but not until the shelves are stocked better. Every time I go to buy something they’re