Someone cuts you off in traffic.
Your hands tighten. The curse rises before the thought.
But what if you paused?
They're not evil.
They're rushed.
Stressed.
Running on a belief that getting there faster matters more than courtesy.
And you've held that belief too.
Different day. Same map.
We assume malice when usually it's just pressure wearing a familiar mask.
The person who snapped at you wasn't born cruel.
They learned that sharpness protects something soft.
You've done the same when cornered.
Rage comes easy when you see only the action.
Compassion arrives when you see the reasoning behind it.
You don't have to excuse the harm.
Just recognise the human making the same errors you've made.
