Editor, Gazette-Journal:
My heart sees the damage we can inflict on one another through words, actions, and assumptions, but I cannot know the depth of your suffering and whether or not you can recover. My heart goes out to you and I too am suffering,
My heart cries for you when you are sick and in pain. I know how I have felt in sickness and pain, but I cannot know your strength or weakness, your tolerance, your hope, your faith. My heart goes out to you and I too am filled with sickness and pain.
My heart cries for you when you lose a loved one. I know how I have felt with each loss of a loved one, but I cannot feel your memories—your joys, sorrows, regrets, love. My heart goes out to you and I too am filled with emptiness and pain.
Why can’t we listen to one another from a blank slate: not from knowledge based on our own experiences, attitudes, and preconceptions: a false basis for knowing another person. Perhaps the blank slate dwells in the heart alone.
Is heart to heart a gift we...