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Do we become more and more empathetic as we experience more in life?

For example, in the past when I saw people with broken legs, I felt brief sadness for their discomfort and was thinking

“Wow! They must be so adventurous to have managed to break their legs!”

And I instantly felt a bit if admiration.

When I saw the videos of pups and kittens with broken legs, I felt very sad but I have never cried.

When I was in the hospital preparing for surgery, all I was thinking was all the pups and kittens I’ve seen online in Youtube videos with broken legs, and I couldn’t stop crying thinking of them. I wasn’t crying about myself, I just felt extremely sad to imagine they went through the same pain I was feeling at that time.

Even now, thinking of them, I get teary eyes.

Must be so hard to be hurting and not be able to say anything and ask for help from anyone.

I feel like I became much more empathetic than I was as I had never experienced that pain before.

Is it that we become more and more empathetic with every new experience?

I feel like I was still sympathetic, but I couldn’t feel it to this level.

When I was 19, my friends and I were coming back from the university. It was a rainy day. I saw a muddy little kitten running through the road full with cars. I rushed to her from the pavement but it was too late. As she had already got hit by the bus…

She was still moving. The bus didn’t stop.

So I stopped the traffic and went to take her and called the animal ambulance as I didn’t know what to do.

I was sitting along with her before they arrived and followed her to the vet.

They performed the surgery on her, but the break was too complex and they had to amputate her lower leg.

I couldn’t keep her as we were living 12 people at home and my paternal grandma wouldn’t allow me. But I was going out of the city along with my friends to the out of the city shelter she was at, every week to bring her food and medication and to check that they treated her well and she was happy.

Updates
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happy. 2 months later, when we visited her again, they told us someone adopted her.

I was relieved to hear that she got adopted and she’d now have a family.

Now I remembered her again. It’s been 8 years. I wonder how’s she doing.

I wish I could have adopted her at that time. I hope whoever adopted her took a good care of her. Now that I have broken my leg I can feel like she must have felt so much more pain, not only to have her leg broken but she had it amputated on top of that too.
Do we become more and more empathetic as we experience more in life?
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