Day 18 of my PDL book actually corrected my short-sightedness when I made the remark about people being beggars of love and sympathy. (Yes, I am progressing through the book very slowly as I could see Day Sixteen's entry was dated 19 March!) There's nothing wrong wanting to be loved and sympathized. In real fellowship, we should be able to expect sympathy from our fellow mates. Here's the correct way of looking at sympathy:

[Sympathy is not giving advice or offering quick, cosmetic help; sympathy is entering and sharing the pain of others. Sympathy says, 'I understand what you are going through, and what you feel is neither strange nor crazy.']

So, it's okay to ask for sympathy. It's like asking for people to understand what you're going through. The only horrible thing is to fall into self-pity. You keep staying at where you are, keep asking for people to sympathize with you, whereas you never do your part to look at how others are doing. It should always be a 'give and take' situation, just like what a real relationship ought to be, not one-sided.

posted by lil piggie at 6:59 PM