“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet, how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”

– Fred Rogers

It was one of the worst days of my life.

I pulled into the hotel parking lot and immediately lost it. The tears started to flow, punctuated by uncontrollable sobs.

I’m not sure how long it was before I happened to look up and locked eyes with a woman who was filling up her car at the gas station next door. 

In that moment, it felt like her soul was looking directly into mine. I could see and feel empathy radiating from her as she placed her hand over her heart.

I looked down. By the time I looked back up she was gone.

A few days later, I was talking to a police officer when I had the souls-looking-into-one-another feeling again. He didn’t even have the full picture of what I was going through, but I could sense his understanding. He saw me. He heard me. He believed me.

Just sitting with someone who is struggling can be incredibly powerful. It makes them feel like their pain matters, like they matter, in a world that tells them it doesn’t and they don’t.

And the smallest actions can sometimes convey the deepest meaning. I’ll never forget a woman offering me her blanket when it was quite literally one of the only things she had. It still shatters my heart when I think about it.

Frida Kahlo once wrote (translated),

“In the end,

I believe there is nothing

we must do to be loved.

We spend our lives trying

to look more beautiful,

more intelligent.

But I’ve understood two things:

Those who love us

see us with their hearts

and give us qualities

beyond the ones we truly have.

And those who refuse to love us

will never be satisfied

with all our efforts.

Yes, truly.

I believe it is important

to let our imperfections be.

They are precious,

for they help us understand

those who see us with the heart.”

With time I started to realize that it’s actually incredibly easy and natural to find mutual understanding with the right people.

I think I used to know that but had forgotten it somewhere along the way.

That realization restored so much of my hope.

I’ll forever be thankful for the people who have been willing to see me with their hearts.

And I want to be one of those people too.