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How to Be a Nice Person
It’s all about empathy.
The woman sitting across from me was in obvious emotional distress. She and her husband had worked all their lives to provide for their family and to save for retirement. Now, it was all falling apart. Their son had died (I didn’t ask how), and their daughter had left them on the hook for millions of dollars in a failed house-flipping venture. They had co-signed every single high-risk mortgage.
I couldn’t help them, but the woman stilled asked to hug me before she left, and both she and her husband thanked me profusely for doing essentially nothing.
What’s my secret?
I pretend to be a nice person.
Now, if you actually know me, you’ll know that I’m as far from nice or likable as a person can actually be without being chased by a mob with flaming torches (although I’m sure that’s crossed someone’s mind at some point). I don’t have friends. I’m a loner with an overly-dressed dog.
But I know how to flip the switch that turns on the glowing neon “Welcome” sign over my head.
It’s all about empathy
The English word empathy has only been around for the last 100 years. The Germans had a word for it first (of course), something vaguely painful to read and completely unpronounceable.
