They are very similar. I'm not quite sure you can feel compassion but not feel sympathy, how you started your statement. Perhaps you were feeling pity? Sympathy is very similar to compassion. You sympathize with their particular situation. You can feel pity but no compassion and sympathy, in that you feel elevated above them. So as far as feeling compassion and sympathy, we have to first of all get into that particular situation and not be comparing them to anyone else at that particular time. That's very helpful.
The rich guy, ok - why is he living like that? Why isn't he doing more with his life? There's obviously a lot of ignorance there. He doesn't know the true cause of happiness otherwise he would be doing more with his life. So there's ignorance. His conditioning, Western conditioning, the pervasiveness of Western society that has taught him that happiness lies in having material things. The seeking and obvious emptiness of his life where he has to try and find these things and he is filling it up with substances. So he doesn't know the source of happiness in his life. This is ignorance, so we open to the ignorance of this person. He doesn't know how to find more happiness and he is going along with what he has been conditioned to believe. So rather than comparing him to anyone else we try to get into his life and see how he would feel, to see what is motivating him.
The family with three kids, similarly they are doing what people have told them is the right thing to do in Western society. Get married, have kids, raise a family, do the right thing. Perhaps they thought this would bring happiness but now they are in it, they find it's not the happiness they thought it would be. How many people go ahead and have kids without really thinking about the result? Usually everybody is encouraging them to have kids because that's going to give them happiness but how many people reflect on the other side. In fact, some people have asked me about it if they are contemplating having kids and I say reflect on both sides please before you have a child so that you can actually take the responsibility of going forth with that action.
Many people don't question what society has conditioned them to believe. So there is ignorance here and many people live their life thinking that when they have fulfilled their responsibilities they are going to have plenty of time. So your assumption that they will have plenty of time doesn't take into account death reflection - they could die before they have that opportunity. One of our assistant's Mother died two or three days ago. There was nothing wrong with her apparently. She went out to pick some lemons and she died, had a brain hemorrhage. She was in her 50s. The assistant said that when friends and family came they said 'she should have had 20 more years'. Fortunately for our assistant, they had a more understanding through doing death reflection and they thought, "But it can happen anytime, anywhere, to anybody, anyhow." So sometimes people do believe they are doing the right thing and later they can start to live, do what they want. But they may never have the opportunity.