Empath

The Forest Whitaker character in the movie Species is brought along in the story because he is an empath.  He can feel the emotions of others and give reasons for those emotions.  Many times he feels the emotions of others so intensely that it hurts him.

I was immediately drawn to that character, feeling like I had something in common with him.  Maybe I don't have the supernatural abilities that he has, but I certainly do understand that character and felt connected to him the moment he explained what it was that he was able to do.

I often feel like I feel the emotions of others too much.  In my head, this is "care".  I care about the man on the street without a home because I feel what I imagine he's feeling.  I care about my wife, which causes me to feel her pain when she's sick or sad.  I care about my kids, so I feel their pains. 

I don't think I'm doing it right.  I think I'm taking on too much.  I think there's probably a way to care about people without emotionally sharing their hurts.  I think there's got to be a way to live in the world without feeling badly for everyone always.  If there isn't a way to do that, I'm gonna be on medication for the rest of my life.  Maybe I'll be medicated for the rest of my life anyway.

I don't want to feel others' emotional pain anymore.  And if I have to, I want to figure out how to deal with it in myself better.  I wish Charles Xavier had a school where he could help me learn how to use my mutant abilities to help people and battle Magneto.  Man, I'd like to be an X-Man.