Listening and empathy

According to an article recently published in Scientific American (http://goo.gl/QgUn5) "Analysis of some 14,000 college student surveys over the last three decades finds that self-reported levels of empathy for others have decreased."  Fully 75% of college students scored themselves lower in empathy than students of 30 years ago.  
According to the article, "one possible explanation is social isolation—we tend to do more things on our own and engage in fewer group activities than we used to. Another possible cause is a decrease in reading fiction for pleasure. Studies have found that the number of stories preschoolers read correlates with their ability to understand other people’s emotional states."
Which brings me to one of the great benefits of meetings - especially speaker meetings.  Hearing other alcoholics stories and following the rule of 'identify, don't compare' helps us learn to feel how others feel.  This opens us up to ending our alcoholic isolation and learning to love.  It is yet another example of AA swimming against some of the negative currents in today's world.
Very nice.