Before You Judge
We don’t all stand beneath one sky,
though it looks the same from where you stare.
Some walk through storms that never dry,
some just learned too soon not to care.
Some were given shelter young,
before the thunder learned their name,
their fears were softened, gently sung,
while others burned in open flame.
But some who felt the water rise
chose to become someone’s dry land,
they learned to read the pain in eyes
and built a roof with their own hand.
And some were given nothing more
than legs to hold them through the rain,
no roof, no hand, no open door,
just strength enough to bear the pain.
Empathy is not to pity,
not to watch from safe and dry,
it’s stepping into someone’s city
and feeling why they start to cry.
The super empath carries two,
their own storm and yours as well,
they feel what’s yours as if it’s true,
a second heartbeat none can tell.
It empties them, this gift they give,
a quiet ache that never shows,
they hold you up so you can live
while no one asks how heavy it grows.
Yet still the world needs those who feel,
who trade their peace to make you whole,
their love is not a trick, it’s real,
the quiet work of a giving soul.
So do not judge the ones who bend
beneath a weight you’ve never known,
you have not walked it to the end,
you’ve only watched it from your own.
Before you judge, remember why
we don’t stand under the same sky,
what feels light from where it’s dry
might be a flood to someone nearby.
…
DCG
Before you judge someone, remember this. We do not stand beneath the same storm. Some are sheltered from the rain. Some spend their lives becoming shelter for others. And some have nothing but the strength to keep standing. Be gentle. Every storm looks lighter when you’re watching it from somewhere dry.
— unknown