We all need to ask ourselves Can empathy for refugees be taught? A few weeks ago, I scrambled to evacuate my area with the only five items I could grab?my phone, passport, water, money, and medicine?in the 30 seconds before I had to flee. Many of the roughly 65 million refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people around the world today have had to make panicked choices like these; more than 4,000 have died at sea in overcrowded boats and rafts attempting to reach Europe from the Middle East. I wish people around the world show more empathy to the needy.