I imagine myself standing on a stage and trying to communicate love and hope and loss and beauty to a bunch of people that have been through more than I can imagine. To me, it seems borderline offensive. By the same token, even trying to talk about or sell our new record right now seems heartless.
On the other hand, when I think about trying to raise money for the victims of the tsunami, I feel like I’m trying to become the face of altruism or something. Do you ever feel that way? Crushed, helpless and impotent in the face of an event? Here is where I think empathy actually starts to become problematic: When your connection to other people goes beyond compassion and into a kind of nervous collapse. When I was younger—say high school-age—I had this happen to me constantly. Any horrible thing that happened anywhere in the world would make me feel like I shouldn’t be allowed to have happiness on that day.
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Geoff Rickly (via moochingwarwidows)