Brotherly Bramble

Should I admit to rarely caring
about the feelings of strangers?
And if admitted, need I worry
about the proforma scolding of friends
who I suspect feign empathy
with aliens they’ve never met?
Or must I jabber platitudes
of universal brotherhood
to the often hypocritical,
nodding false accord with
those already unkind to relatives?
Why is there not an ethical code
of sympathy only for those
we know to be deserving of it?