When you feel like giving up on people do this instead

“I dunno, Jen, I don’t know what happened. I used to be the guy who helped everyone and now I just can’t. The world’s changed. I just can’t help anymore.”

I could feel Ben’s despair and frustration piercing the long space between us. In his puzzlement and own attempts to reconcile his current self with his past self it’s clear that Ben still wishes he had the capacity to extend his care and compassion to all whom need it. After all, this is a man who once followed a co-worker for 50 miles (by car) in a snowstorm because he was worried she had a migraine and may not make it home safely. This is also a man who’s been caring for one person or another in his family for over 40 years. Some days you’ll catch him folding his brother’s laundry whenever he comes over, driving his sister to doctor’s appointments, or making dinner for his elderly mother who now lives with him. And yet, he struggles like so many feeling overwhelmed by the dark ages we’re now living in.

And if you’re familiar with this feeling and you’ve touched the edges of this despair and frustration with a sense that: “the world has gone crazy”, people are crueler now, more violent, no one cares about each other anymore.. then you aren’t alone. Ben isn’t alone. Even though we’re living in the most “connected” era of all time because of technological advances there’s…