Washington talks a lot about empathy. So do the states. The word gets tossed around until it starts to mean “feeling something,” or worse, performing something, without doing the hard work of changing outcomes.

Americans already sense there’s a difference between coddling and dignifying. One approach expands dependency or enabling and calls it compassion. The other creates opportunity, restores dignity, and produces real progress.

My Christian faith tradition and the Jewish moral concept of tzedakah frame it even more sharply. Tzedakah is often translated as charity, but it more literally points to righteousness: doing the right thing. The right thing is not simply relieving discomfort in the moment. The right thing is helping another human being reclaim the dignity of a productive life.

That distinction matters because our biggest disagreements today are not about whether people deserve compassion. Most people have compassion. The real disagreement is what compassion should do. Does it simply soothe a problem? Or does it restore a person’s ability to stand on their own two feet?

For me, “dignity-first empathy” means we help people through hard........

© Washington Examiner