Sad wasn't the right word to describe what Heath was feeling. He was more confused than anything else. This felt like second year all over again when he was too scared to engage because he didn't yet know anyone's intentions, except… As he looked up, his eyes found Claudine. He gave her a slight smile, but there wasn't time to say hi before the lesson started.

Schmoe's questions had him even more confused than ever! He blinked, his eyes darting from the professor to the fire pit. Empathy and… campfires? He had no idea how those two things fit together, but he considered the questions anyway. He knew what empathy was. It was feeling what another person felt. It was different from simply understanding their feelings, as in sympathy, or feeling sorry for them, as in pity, but all of those things had been said a number of times and there were only so many ways to reword the same information.

Instead he chose to focus on the third part of the question: empathy in practice, and his thoughts immediately turned to acting. There was always some level of empathy involved with playing a character. You had to find a way to make their emotions your own, even if you couldn't relate to their situation; otherwise the performance would ring hollow. Was that anywhere close to what Schmoe was looking for? He wasn't sure, but he tentatively raised his hand and said, "I suppose one way to practice empathy is to think of a time when you felt what the other person is feeling if you can't relate to their exact set of circumstances. That can help you truly experience their emotions…" Did anyone see where he was going with this? Maybe he shpuld just stop talking before he made an idiot of himself!