Empathy Involving Stairs – Advice #430JOG

She tells me that she’s disappointed I’m not going to dust these stairs we have in our home.

I say, I’m sorry.

She tells me that I don’t need to apologize. She’s just bummed.

I tell her I’m not really apologizing.

She says, well maybe you should stop being a sarcastic jerk then.

I say, I’m not being a jerk. It’s like if someone dies and you say, “I’m sorry” even if you aren’t REALLY sorry because you didn’t do anything. You just understand the situation, I say. I’m empathetic, I say.

She tells me to screw myself. That I’m not empathetic at all.

I tell her, crap, I think she might be right. I tell her that I’m still not doing the stairs, though.

And then she says fine and pushes me down the stairs. As I lay there, on the hardwood floor, I feel a deep empathy for the stuffed animals of the world, the ones that kids throw around and sometimes toss down one or two flights of stairs.

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Posted in: Empathy, Year 1: Advice