Everyone has an origin story you haven’t heard. Ask before you decide they’re the villain.
REFLECTION
WHAT THIS MEANS
People arrive to you mid-story, with the chapters that explain them already behind them. Whoever is short with you, or dropped out, or cannot be relied on got there by a route you have no access to, and the real explanation is usually duller and sadder than the one you invent. Choosing a villain takes almost no information, which is exactly why it happens so fast.
Before you settle on a verdict about somebody, ask one real question and listen to the whole answer. Not to excuse anything. Just to find out what you were missing.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Whose backstory might change your mind about them completely?
MORE IN MEANING & PERSPECTIVE
- Someone cooking for you is love in its most practical form. Say thank you while they’re still at the stove.
- Everyone’s a genius on the replay. Decisions look easy when you know how they turned out.
- Someone stocked the shelf, drove the truck, and fixed the power line so your boring day could be boring.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.