“You don’t know ...”

Do we have the audacity to empathize? The nerve to imagine what it’s like to live in someone else’s world?

We’ve heard people say with indignation, “You don’t know what it’s like.”

And so it makes sense that we back down. That we don’t attempt the impossible. Out of deference. Or fear of conflict.

But that’s the paradox. In order for us to act with empathy ... we have to imagine what it’s like. We have to step into that discomfort.

That we can’t truly know ... that’s exactly the problem. But to connect deeply, we have to try to know.