empathy sympathy

Observing and analyzing examples of communication styles was a bit more difficult than I expected. While observing a few conversations, they naturally flowed between assertive, empathetic, and sympathetic communication styles. However, the aggressive communicator was rebuttaled with a similar aggressive communication style or passive communication. Here they are:

Empathy:
“There but for the grace of God, go I.”
There are many people with many problems. It’s hard for me to pick one situation. The latest large scale empathetic situation is the devastation in Haiti. When I see the pictures and hear the stories of a whole country destroyed and a fragile culture in ruins, my eyes burn and swell up, my heart is heavy and my spirit is cracked. I feel sad. I can imagine the sense of overwhelming helplessness they must feel. The people of Haiti have struggled for the last hundred years through racial oppression, corruption, and global prejudice to tweak out a meager life at best. I wish I could do more. Realistically speaking, all I can do right now is continue to be empathetic by keeping them in my thoughts and prayers.
Empathy to sympathy:
Another, more common empathetic situation is my sister’s current life. She turned 40 last weekend. She is going through a turbulent divorce, working two jobs, and trying to keep it all together. My empathy for her day to day hardships have pushed me into feeling sympathetic to her situation. I show my sympathetic solidarity by taking care of her children and pets as often as I can. My son and I get together with her son for a weekly family dinner/movie night to continue a sense of family and stability during this chaotic time.
Sympathy to assertion:
The empathy I felt for my sister’s situation prompted me to act, which caused my sympathy. My sympathy caused me to act in an assertive manner. My sister shared her pain about her marriage and her loss of family for her children. She felt she could handle her own loss appropriately. However, her children’s sense of family kept her in a problematic marriage too long. So we decided to create a broader sense of family with extended family members. We had an open realistic dialogue and decided upon a tag team approach to helping each other out. She comfortably expressed what she felt, what she needed, and asked if I could do that for her. And vice versa. It sounds like a complex situation, but it works out because we are able to openly communicate in a respectful manner.
Aggression:
Fortunately, I’m not involved in many aggressive situations. Most people come into my workplace, Cardinal Fitness, in a good focused mood. I see them when its their “me” time, for the most part. After working out for 1-2 hours, most are riding their endorphin high. I stay away from aggressive conversations. Its rare that people approach me in that way. The last aggressive interaction I had was about 3 months ago at work. It was an icy Saturday morning and my dog ran out as I was warming up my car. He was joyous and playful, running up and down my street as fast as he could. It was really cute and really inconvenient. His escapade made me ten minutes late for work. I texted my coworker to let her know I was going to be about ten minutes late. As I walked thru the lobby, with my key still in the lock, she verbally tore into me. She was yelling, walking, and pacing around the club. I just stood there, staring at her looking like a crazy woman. I slowly moved behind my desk while letting her vent. When she seemed out of steam, I did my job duties. When my GM asked what happened that morning, I stated the facts. After that incident I stayed far away from her. She was fired about a month later.