Importance of Being Empathetic

Empathy is the ability to identify or understand what someone else is enduring. I think hard life stuff makes one more empathetic. It stands to reason that if you've had your heart ripped out and stomped on a few times in life, you remember what that feels like and when it happens to someone you know, you feel it - like a phantom limb.
In my Bible study we've been studying ways to pray - two examples of which are Moses and Abraham. It struck me that the prayers these men prayed on behalf of Israel and Sodom, respectively, were empathetic. They prayed for these groups with earnest desire for their well-being; as well as if they were praying for their own preservation. I wondered if I pray for others with conviction and hope to equal my prayers for me and my little family. I think not, and I think it is time.