Reading Biographies Builds Empathy
Reflections on reading, humanity and kindness.
I enjoy reading biographies. While some people get lost in the world of fiction, I find myself immersed in the stories of people’s lives.
Biographies offer a window into the complexity of the human experience. They help the reader see what led the subject to make the choices they did.
Biographies teach me much about life.
I am firmly convinced people cannot be reduced to the worst they have ever done, nor can they be defined by the best they have accomplished. Behind everyone’s choices—big or small—are sleepless nights, agonizing worries, regrets, navigating internal and external expectations that many will never see or know. Often, uncertainty is a constant companion to the decisions we make.
Maybe this is one of the reasons the Apostle Paul urges us: “May your speech always be gracious, as though seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person” (Col. 4:6).
Today, may we be respectful to those whom we believe made the wrong decision, find patience with those who feel the weight of others’ expectations, and may grace fill the blank spaces of people’s story we do not—and maybe will never—know.