Finding the Opportunity to Praise.

Since I can’t think of anything to post about tonight, I thought I’d copy something I wrote in an email by way of trying to help somebody feel better about herself:

I admit that I don’t know you perfectly. Nobody could, much less somebody who has never met you, never looked into your eyes, never observed how you smile or what kind of tears you shed. But I can say after more than ten years of close correspondence that I’ve never seen any bad in you. I’ve never seen any trace of vindictiveness, vengefulness, cruelty, nor even harshness, and your lack of any judgemental faculty is unique in my experience. You’ve always struck me as a person of light who loves to spread light to others. Even when your actions have seemed selfish, they’ve always been at least ameliorated if not wholly excused by the sort of vulnerability we must all be allowed if we’re to be human.

And I meant every word of it, so here’s the good bit. To a misanthropic old curmudgeon like me, it really makes me feel good to be able to say such a thing honestly. And it should go without saying that I would never say such a thing dishonestly.