I had a conversation recently that stuck with me.

Someone close to me was venting—angry about their friend, frustrated by the choices that person was making. You could feel the tension in their voice, the kind of frustration that comes from loving someone but not knowing how to reach them anymore. Then they looked at me and said, “What should I even say the when I see them?”

I paused for a moment and simply said: “Start with compassion.”

They blinked, almost confused by the word.

So I said, “Anger leaves no room for compassion. And if you approach them with judgment or rage, you’ve already lost the chance to reach them. Let them know you still care. Let them know you pray for them. Let them know you’re there—not to fix them, not to change them, but to love them through it. That’s compassion. And that’s where real conversations begin.”

In a time when so many people are divided—by politics, beliefs, choices, pain—they also feel isolated, alone, and even unsafe in a world that no longer feels steady. It’s easy to let that fear turn into anger, to believe that outrage is the only way to be heard. But anger never heals. It rarely helps. It only hardens.

Compassion doesn’t mean you agree. It means you care.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s the thing we all need more of right now.