Perspective is reality. It's hard to relate and understand someone when you don't have common ground. It's hard to find common ground when you are polar opposites. It's hard to do anything if you don't really want to do it in the first place. The biggest obstacle to empathy is self. Empathy is a choice. It is allowing yourself to feel someone else's pain as well as their joy. Empathy is a deliberate vicarious experience. Choose to understand. Choose to walk in someone else's shoes. 

"Empathy is about standing in someone else's shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place. " -Daniel H. Pink