Facing Loss No One Should Feel

Having lost my only child, I would like Martin J. Smith to understand that unless he too lost a child, he can’t have learned to empathize just by the fact that he became a father (“A Journalist’s Confession,” Sept. 3). I realize that Smith meant well by his well-written article, but it is distressing to hear sympathetic friends and relatives say, “I know how you feel.” They do not know how I feel.

Jane Felixson

Los Angeles