Project

What if everyone had the power to project their pain into someone else? Like, direct a telepathic beam into a specific person and make them feel exactly what you're feeling at the moment. I know I frequently feel such deep, intense emotional or physical pain that the thought crosses my mind that I'd like to see how someone else would cope if they were suddenly hit with it, unlike my gradual acclamation to it. I don't want anyone else to feel my pain, but I really do wonder if it would make people recoil, or fall to the ground, or weep.

In a world where we could all project our pain into other people, how would people use this power? Would politicians have to isolate themselves from their constituents so no one would hit them with a feeling of starving in poverty? Would masochists flock to any opportunity to feel someone else's overwhelming and particularly poignant pain? Would people find it gratifying, or even therapeutic to see that their pain is understood? To just have the comfort of knowing for one moment that someone else understands how they feel?