Empathy, I realized, isn’t always spectacular. It doesn’t necessarily manifest itself through grand, visible displays. It often begins with restraint: accepting to be a little less at the center, adjusting a gesture, slowing down a reaction. Since that flight, I’ve been more attentive. Not in a rigid or guilt-inducing way, but with a new awareness. I let someone go ahead of me without calculating. I take a moment to observe rather than react. I strive not to occupy all the space, even symbolically.
These gestures are tiny. Almost invisible. But they change everything. For others, perhaps. For me, certainly.
