empathy.

as my mama would always tell us not to forget, it is being able to put one’s feet in another’s shoes.

i would like to think that it’s a form of understanding requiring a more developed sense of compassion,like your venti coffee cup with those extra espresso shots – that unfortunately, well, not everyone can afford every day.

i was talking to somebody a few weeks ago,
the person was grave bordering on hostile about so many things.
i cannot seem to fathom how much hatred this person harbors for the universe, every single day of his/her life, that every time anybody attempts to get the talk, he/she raises that middle-finger of an argument.
heavy stuff.

in those cases, i am, more often than not, compelled to dismiss that as a bad day

but you can’t be having a bad day everyday, right?

i believe we all have that ability to assimilate positive environmental cues and be able to inject a whole lot of sunshine into the story of our lives and manage to get by, without being much of a heartache to people.

unless of course you lack the facility to do so, or you have grown calloused to a loving world, for reasons this universe has something to do with but do not really give a damn about.

people cannot allocate a big chunk of their life trying to sort out your issues, letting you explain why you’re this and that, and why you’re not this and that,
nope, that’s your job;
they’d just be spending a minute of their lives sizing you up, and deciding whether you’re worth anything valuable.

reality bites.

but there are those who are able to set themselves aside and spare some of their time to be more kind and patient and empathic.

i’d like to tell them — good job, you’ll be blessed, for this is a thankless world.

although, of course, you do not expect these kind people to stay for long.
for empathy is not in any case, just one way, it requires the recipient to recognize the fact that something is not right, and therefore something needs to be done.

i guess almost everything starts that way – acceptance.

as what is oftentimes clichedly put – God helps those who help themselves. 😊