Also, if empathy is simply taking on another person's emotions and feeling them... then how is it really an emotion if you're just feeling someone else's?[/QUOTE]

That's a GREAT point! You got me thinking there ....I think what people who feel emotions can do is relate to how they "felt" in a similar situation the person/sufferer is going through. It's not exactly feeling another person's emotions, but more of "evoking" a similar emotion you felt before, hence you sort of "get" what they are going through. People usually say "I feel you", they are really feeling their own past emotions, re-lived by what the person is relaying.
I also think many times people lie about "feeling or getting someone else's emotions" just to be nice and sympathetic to them, but they have no clue about what the other person is going through.