I actually hate when people just call it empathy, because feeling like this goes beyond that. Usually your mind shields you from feeling too much empathy. It helps you to cope with all of the awful shit around you, sometimes by just subconsciously ignoring it.

If you constantly feel bad for every bad thing happening around you, it can be pretty debilitating. That homeless guy you walk past on the street? Sad. That bird that just killed itself by flying into a window? Sad. War and famine all over the world, caused by absolute wastes of oxygen in skinsuits? The worst.

I personally know someone who will actually start to cry if they see someone sad on the subway or wherever.