I Don't Know, That Never Came Up On My Radar: On Being an Anti-Empath

This is purely empirical and not based on any kind of science.
 
If you are crying, I will walk away and leave you to your own devices. It's not that I don't care, but it's more that I simply don't know what to do. If you clearly asked me to comfort you, I would. However, I need that explicit instruction. It is not that I choose to block out the emotions of others, but that they just simply don't come up on my radar. If you are an empath or regular person trying to understand anti-empaths, please understand that we're not all horrible people. Some of us really do try to understand emotions, but just don't know.

I have had people close to me die and I didn't grieve. It's not that I didn't miss those people, but I just never felt a need to do so. Lacking these experiences is very alienating as it tends make people judge me as "heartless" and "insensitive" (the latter of which is partially true). I tend to leave people to their own devices out of the logical understanding that they understand their situation better than I do, so, by leaving someone to their own devices when I cannot help in a practical manner, I am actually trying to help in my own anti-empath way. The only way I can truly feel an emotional connection is through shared experience.

Anti-Empath Inventory Checklist

• You have remained completely unaffected by a "touching" story without having any objections to the content itself. 
• You feel that you "just can't get" emotions.
• You rarely cry for reasons other than physical pain. 
• You tend to walk away from grieving people and/or people in a state of distress you do not know the source of.
• You don't get the compulsions to help that others do.
• The only/strongly predominant way you can "get" emotions is through a common experience.
• You rarely donate to charity even though you have sufficient resources to support yourself.
• Others see you as even-keeled.
• You tend to lean towards pragmatic means to support others rather than emotional means.
• You like to leave people to their own devices.
• You predominantly understand emotions through a rational interface. 
• Even when you consciously seek emotional sensation, it is nearly impossible for you to achieve.

If 8 of these questions are true for you, you might to be an anti-empath.