The empathy over sympathy is perfectly stated. This especially reminds me of these government speeches upon terrorist attacks, where they express their sympathy for all the families involved, say sorry, and two weeks later nobody feels responsible anymore. And it's so repetitive, always the same words, no empathy, no real emotion in it. Just words spoken from a written form. No wonder this doesn't bring change.
On a more personal scale with relationships, this is also the reason why so few people are good listeners while most people always have a good cry on these few listeners' shoulders. They search for empathy but don't give it at the same time. The typical "taking without giving principle".

Keep it up!