doesn’t give someone permission to damage another person’s property.
Stress doesn’t transform cruelty into kindness.
But context can change the way we understand someone’s behavior without changing whether that behavior was acceptable.
I knew something about watching a mother disappear.
I’d done it myself.
So the following Sunday, I knocked on Daniel’s door.
He looked different.
Thinner.
Tired.
Not ordinary tired.
The kind that settles behind someone’s eyes.
“I heard about your mother.”
He looked surprised.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel nodded.
“She’s in residential care now.”
He looked down.
“She doesn’t always recognize me.”
I knew that pain.
“My mother went through something similar.”
His eyes met mine.
“I’m sorry.”
We stood quietly.
The Conversation That Changed Things
Then Daniel said:
“The tea bags…”
I waited.
“I wasn’t thinking.”
He shook his head.
“No. That’s not true.”
I said nothing.
“I was thinking. I just didn’t care enough.”
That was more
