Today, I received yet another email petition titled:
“Compassion and Empathy for Animals.”
Don’t get me wrong — I adore animals. God knows how many of these I’ve signed over the years. But today, something in me stirred differently. I felt sad. And yes — even angry.
Why, I wondered, are there so many movements for animals, strangers, and faraway causes... yet none for the people closest to us?
Where is the petition for compassion and empathy toward friends and relatives?
We often focus on the “big picture.” Noble causes. Important movements. But sometimes, I think we do that because it’s easier than looking at what’s happening in our own backyard — in our homes, among the people we love, or once loved.
What if we turned some of that compassion inward?
What if we treated our friends, siblings, and neighbors with the same softness and care we offer to abandoned puppies and shelter cats?
Do the people around us not deserve compassion too — even when they’re flawed, even when they’re different from what we expect them to be?
I Know What It Feels Like
Years ago — in my darkest times — I truly learned what it means to be alone.
I was struggling with agoraphobia, financial hardship, and panic attacks. I couldn’t stay home alone. I couldn’t function. My mother was often my only support — until she passed away. Then I was left to face it all alone.
I had friends. I had relatives. And yes — I asked for help. Sometimes someone would come. But what stayed with me was not that they said no...
It was that no one followed up. Not a call. Not a message. Not a simple “How are you today?”
When you're in crisis, that silence is louder than any storm.
A Missed Opportunity for Love
I remember once, in the middle of the night, I sent a message asking if someone could come sleep over — I was scared and unwell.
A friend replied the next day, saying she turns her phone off at night, and even if she’d seen the message, she wouldn’t have come.
She needed her sleep.
I didn’t hold it against her. But the pain of those words stayed with me.
What if instead she had said something like,
“I have to be up early, but I’ll leave my phone on just in case. If you’re really not well, call me — I’ll come.”
That would’ve changed everything.
There Are Good People, Too
To be fair, not all stories are sad.
There was a friend — a kind soul — who couldn’t come with me one day to a nearby property I loved, where I often went to feel peace. He was busy. It was okay.
I went alone.
Later, a thunderstorm started. I stayed outside, loving the wildness of it, proud I was finally facing the world again.
Then the phone rang. It was that friend.
He had finished his tasks and was walking to come meet me — through the storm.
No car. Rain pouring. But he came anyway.
When I asked him why, he said simply:
“I thought maybe the storm would scare you. So I came.”
I will never forget that.
A Quiet Petition
So... how about a new kind of petition?
A silent movement for those who are close — friends, family, people in our orbit every day.
Let’s start showing them the same compassion and empathy we show the world.
Let’s check in. Call just to say hi. Stay when it’s uncomfortable. Be present even if we can’t fix things.
Because one day, we’ll need that too.
And when that day comes, we won’t care how many petitions we signed for animals or causes. We’ll just hope someone — anyone — sees us. And stays.
If this message speaks to you, share it.
Maybe someone, somewhere, will remember to check on a friend tonight. Or to answer a call.
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