Wednesday, August 3, 2016

empathize! feel as they feel. . .



walk in their shoes

a piece of advice I got one time
keeps resurfacing in my psyche:
“Every time a student asks a penetrating question,
react to it as if it’s the first time
that question has ever been asked. . .”

otherwise, it seems you rain on their parade,

the same truth holds each time
someone experiences awe in nature,
one should leap into their world, listen,
ask, let the other relive the moment,

then, maybe, you can share a moment you had
whose sharing adds to the awe they feel,
never wrench them away from the truth
that grabbed and shook them,

I’m working on learning that lesson.

by Henry H. Walker
August 1, ’16

No comments: