I like it. I might switch over to your metaphor. These are
  "brain pictures" that automatically pop up in my head when I
  hear certain words, so we'll see if my brain switches over. You
  better capture the "pity" aspect of sympathy than mine did, the
  "you poor thing you dearie" part, and the empathy captures the
  broken/wholeness. Also, you kept everybody more or less the same
  shape. Yes, much better ties it together. Cool.