The Death of Empathy - Have we lost the ability to care?

At first glance, most everyone would say that the empathizing with another person is a good thing; to understand how they feel and even share some of thosefeelings. Nowadays, however, there are more and more voices that are suggesting that to empathize with others is the path of giving too much away or letting people get away with the things they do. Remember Jean Valjean? He was hungry and stole food. Do we justify it because he was starving, or do we believe that stealing is wrong no matter the reason?