I don't know if I like thinking of myself as empathetic because I doubt I accurately understand what you are feeling. However, I can feel whatever emotion I would be feeling were I in the situation I believe you are in, to such a strength that it almost feels like it is happening to me.

I feel like we are all on a gradient in terms of 1) how strongly we feel our own emotions and 2) how strongly we feel what I described just above. My guess is that I have moved further up the spectrum of both of these over the years.

Moving up the spectrum is very exposing: you feel more of everything, the "good" and the "bad". I think the usefulness of doing so is not that clear and people most often already have enough challenges as it is.

I am guessing it is one of these things that only starts making sense when our more essential needs are met. Whenever that happens, it looks like a desire for fulfillment comes creeping, which empathy answers quite well I find.