On the subject of rationalism, rationalization, and cowardice; on empiricism and the responsibilities of awareness of others as others. From June 2005, as my mother was dying.

There's a difference between caring for someone, in the sense of emotional attachment, and being attentive to them, to their wishes or their pain. Pain itself is lonely and expressions of sympathy are often theater used to hide incomprehension and fear.
I'm watching the old watch their friend die. They have become professionals at this. They are honest actors: the most aware both of the distances between people, and the similarity of their experience.