About this quote

True compassion is easy to offer to those we already like or pity. It is much harder to extend it to the people we are taught to despise. When we withhold empathy from the worst among us, we show the limits of our own humanity. Ask yourself who you have written off as completely beyond saving. Real kindness requires us to look at the worst outcasts and ask what drove them there.

When to use it

• A colleague gets fired for a major mistake that cost the company money, and everyone is gossiping about their incompetence. You remind a coworker that nobody is asking how that person is going to pay their rent now.
• Your cousin goes to prison, and the family decides to cut him off completely. You decide to write him a letter because he is the one who needs family support the most right now.
• An athlete misses a game-winning shot and becomes the target of intense online bullying. You defend them on a sports forum, pointing out that they are likely suffering more than any angry fan.
• The school bully gets suspended, and everyone celebrates his absence. You ask your friends to consider what kind of abuse he might be facing at home to make him act out like that.